the haunted man
by stanzaic
Summary: Danielle Mills was one of the only two people in her entire town to grow up. Now she's eighteen and the savior rolls into town—but she doesn't seem intent on saving. Danielle must take matters into her own hands. It's just her luck, though, that nobody wants to listen to her, her only friend is insane, and she winds up traveling in a magic fantasy realm with people she hates. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**THE HAUNTED MAN**

_April 2014_

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><p>CHAPTER ONE<p>

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><p>Her little brother had skipped town—again.<p>

"Why did you do that?" Danielle Mills fairly yelped into her cell phone, kicking at a stray pebble as she followed the sidewalk. "I asked you to do one thing, Henry! One thing! You had _one job!_"

"I know, I know," Henry Mills replied from the other end of the line. It was only eight o'clock in the morning and he was already an hour away by Greyhound. "But I couldn't wait anymore, okay?"

Danielle stopped walking and looked up to the sky. It was a clear October day, no wispy gray clouds in sight. There was a cold breeze that made Danielle's jacket and jeans a requirement, though, and it had rained the night before, leaving the sidewalk and streets wet. "Well," Danielle finally said, looking back ahead again, "I suppose it's not that big of a problem. You just need to get back here before Mom notices you're gone."

"I will," Henry chirped.

"She planned a birthday celebration for you later, you know."

"Yeah, yeah."

Neither Danielle nor Henry particularly cared for the ideas of birthdays, as they were the only ones who had them here. It was part of the reason that both of them had experience in randomly upping and leaving town. Both of them always came back, though; Henry because he didn't have anywhere else to go, and Danielle because Henry was still stuck there.

"Good luck," said Danielle. She resumed walking.

"Thanks. I'll see you later!"

"Be careful!" Danielle added, just before Henry hung up. She sighed and turned off her own phone, cramming it into the pocket of her blue plaid jacket. Then she pushed her hands into her jacket, too.

School had started a few minutes ago, but Danielle genuinely did not care. She found it rather difficult to care about anything. Her apathy had been induced by her living conditions: not that she was an abused orphan or anything equally horrible, but that she very much lived in a nightmare.

Danielle barely glanced at the white picket fences she began to pass. There were spurts of vaguely colorful flowers peeking out from behind some of them; they should have been dead already by this point, but time was bizarre in Storybrooke. In fact, time didn't pass at all. Danielle and Henry were the only people with birthdays because they were the only ones who aged.

It had been confusing at first, Danielle remembered. She'd been five and then six and then seven, and the kids in her classes had all been different. She'd kept making friends in each grade and then found out at the end of summer that she had to start over and make new friends again. What ten year old still wanted to be friends with a six year old?

And Danielle had kept getting taller and grew a chest and started caring about the opposite gender while nobody else did. So by the eighth grade Danielle stopped caring. She walked to school alone, sat there alone, and left alone. She listened to her iPod or read a book most of the time. She had over four thousand songs on her iPod and had read the entirety of the Young Adult section in the only Storybrooke bookstore.

By the time Danielle figured out that dying was probably more interesting than living, Henry had joined her in her pain, and she couldn't leave a baby to fend for himself in this disturbing town. In order to prevent herself from doing anything remotely suicidal Danielle promised God that she wouldn't harm herself. And unless she wanted to go straight to hell, she wasn't about to break that promise; it would only backfire tremendously.

Henry had grown up used to all this oddness. Danielle explained to him when he could understand how Storybrooke worked and he just went with it. He thought it was crazy and scary, too—and the poor kid had never liked horror movies—so he tried to make some friends in his grades. Eventually, though, he'd have to move on, because it was hard to hang out with a five year old when you were already eight.

On typical weekdays Henry and Danielle accompanied each other partway to school. Danielle had rather a long stretch to walk alone, as Henry's elementary school was closer, but they kept each other company for a little while. Henry was surprisingly optimistic for living in such a bizarre place; Danielle thought herself surprisingly bitter for being so young. She had no idea how Henry had managed to avoid it.

Danielle reflected that she had a test in her English class today. She hated that class. Mr. Withers, the teacher, insisted that there was only one interpretation for each book or poem they read. No matter how well-supported your theory was it was wrong if it wasn't the same as his. Danielle didn't particularly care if she failed or passed the test: her mother was the mayor, and she was pretty sure she'd manage to get through this grade, no matter how many strings her mother had to pull.

She blamed her mother for all this, anyway. Regina Mills was the one who had caused Storybrooke's time to stop. Danielle blamed the woman for her nightmares and her lost friendships and even her own thoughts when her hand wanted to start inching toward the nearest knife. Henry had discovered, with the help of his teacher Ms. Blanchard, that this town was actually under a curse.

Danielle would have thought that was utterly ridiculous if she hadn't known the effects of it herself. It was the only thing that made sense: no Quantum physics or math formula could account for Danielle walking down the street and suddenly catching sight of her kindergarten best friend still running around as a five year old. The curse, though, could.

Regina Mills, the mayor of Storybrooke, had cursed the majority of the people from her homeland, the Enchanted Forest. She was the Evil Queen, the witch of all witches, and, in Danielle's mind, the bitch of all bitches. She'd decided for some petty reason—Danielle thought it was because Snow White was prettier than Regina—to put everyone in a fictional town in the real world where happy endings weren't fated to happen. And then, for reasons Danielle still could not fathom, she'd decided to adopt Danielle and Henry.

Did Regina have any idea what she'd brought Danielle and Henry into? Danielle had to assume she didn't. If she did, then she had some sort of twisted mind—that, admittedly, probably fit an Evil Queen—but she claimed to love Henry and Danielle. For a while now Danielle hadn't been so sure, but she'd begun doubting everything once she found out about the curse.

Henry had been given a book with the backstories of all the characters, or the people, in Storybrooke by Ms. Blanchard. Ms. Blanchard was, of course, the sweet and sensitive Snow White. Although Henry had run around for a while trying very hard to persuade anyone who would listen into believing in the curse, the only person who did was Danielle. Nobody else could tell they weren't aging, or that time wasn't moving, or that they literally repeated the same actions every damn day of their lives. Nobody could even tell it was weird that a woman had been pregnant with a baby for at least eighteen years.

It was rather frightening to think about: neither Danielle nor Henry knew just how long this Storybrooke business had been going on. Had there been children Regina had adopted before? Had the children just grown up and moved on? There was no telling. The book claimed that the curse was supposed to last twenty-eight years, until the "Savior" came along, but Danielle was skeptical of it.

That was where Henry was right now, Danielle thought, as she turned to start up the cream-colored front steps of Storybrooke High. Henry had managed to find his birth mother online: Emma Swan. Henry had immediately come to the conclusion that his birth mother was, in fact, the reputed "Savior" of Storybrooke. Danielle doubted it and had tried to make Henry wait for her before rushing off to get himself lost in Boston, but he'd snuck out that morning while Danielle was still asleep.

Danielle had found her own birth parents, too, because Regina must not have cared enough to either make sure they didn't or help them do so. Danielle's parents were Jenny and Kyle Irish from Iowa. Danielle didn't intend on going to see them—ever—because she'd been given up to adoption for a reason. They didn't want her in their lives; she wasn't going to force her presence upon them.

Storybrooke High was empty at the moment. Danielle strolled past a few classrooms full of students and several hundred yellow lockers with their little silver combination locks. She found her own locker and dug out the books she needed for her first few classes; then she headed off to class, only after relocking her locker.

Danielle briefly considered telling her mother that Henry was gone, but she decided against it. It might have been a little spiteful but she figured she learned spitefulness from the best.

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><p>School was slightly less irritating than usual. Danielle was certain she'd actually passed her English test; she'd read the material before on her own time. At the end of the day she briefly considered heading home as she paused to toss her books from her last classes into her locker. It was probably a bad idea—Regina might have noticed her son's disappearance by now.<p>

Then Danielle considered going out after Henry. But she might miss him completely in the transitions—she might pass him on his way home while she was on a bus trying to reach him in Boston. Besides, she didn't want to get in the way of his disillusionment with meeting his birth mother. The woman had literally requested no contact. There was no way the kid could come back out of that with anything good.

"Hey," said someone quite suddenly from Danielle's right.

Danielle glanced up. "Oh, hey," she said politely. "How're you?"

Eden Galloway was a tall, statuesque blonde girl, with perfect teeth. She was always tan and apparently knew exactly how to apply makeup for all occasions. She was also hilariously catty with the majority of the senior class. Danielle was pretty sure Eden was a princess or a daughter of a princess of some sort, but she hadn't figured out who. Henry's tell-all book didn't actually tell all the stories of the people in Storybrooke.

Danielle knew Eden because they sat beside each other in math, and neither of them ever knew what was going on. They were also on the same gymnastics team. Well—sort of; Eden was always, for some reason, stuck in Storybrooke, as was the rest of the team, so they were definitely grounded. Danielle wasn't even really a _part_ of the team: she just ended up in the gym at the same time as them and tended to listen in on their practices. Danielle could find events and attend camps outside Storybrooke, though.

That was another annoying thing about the curse—nobody could do anything _fun_. The bars by Castle College were all shitty and always had the same idiots in them, and it was no fun and way too dangerous going to clubs alone.

"Good," said Eden. "Fine." She eyed Danielle for a moment. "What are you doing tonight?"

Danielle shrugged and turned back to her locker. "Not going to the Underground, if that's what you were gonna ask." The Underground was the only club in town that accepted you if you were underage; the bouncers were all usually drunk off their asses. It was also rather well-hidden. But if Danielle went, Regina always knew.

Eden frowned, one side of her mouth turning downward. "Well, you'll be missing out," she remarked. "But I was actually going to ask if you wanted to hang out or something."

Danielle actually looked at her now. Eden looked serious. Eden's best friend, Rachael Trent, was standing a little ways down the hall at her own locker, trying not to look like she was listening. Danielle didn't know Rachael; all she knew was that the girl had curly red hair and sometimes worked shifts at Granny's Diner. "I don't think I can, actually," said Danielle. Eden and Rachael were cool—probably—but come graduation, they'd be sticking around in high school. The excuses flowed easily by now, after years of practice. "My brother took off to Boston today, so I'm going to have to shield him from my mom."

"Boston?" Eden echoed, raising her eyebrows. "What the hell does he want there?"

Danielle shrugged. "Who knows?" she said, shaking her head. "He's nine—ten years old. He just gets these ideas." She made a weird motion beside her head, gesturing about Henry's craziness.

Eden snickered. "Your family is weird," she remarked. "I'll see you at school, then." She started to turn away.

"Are you not going to the gym?" Danielle asked. The gymnastics team always practiced after school.

Eden smirked. "Nope," she said, popping the 'p'. "Later, Mills." She turned and sauntered off, meeting Rachael by her locker. In a moment both of them had disappeared down the hallway, melting into the crowd of fleeing students.

Danielle glanced back at her locker. She had a picture of Henry up on the inside and a metal container for pens and pencils, but that was as personal as it got. She grabbed her copy of _Jane Eyre_, crammed her iPod earphones into her ears, and slammed the door shut. For some reason today made her even angrier than usual—maybe because Eden and Rachael were people she actually liked, and she knew they'd never even graduate high school, or maybe because Henry was out there somewhere about to get his hopes and dreams squashed.

All because of Regina Mills, the mayor of this stupid little town.

Danielle wandered back outside, hands in her jacket pockets. She paused on the sidewalk, inadvertently causing a traffic jam of people she did not care about at all, to pick up a worm and toss it into the school lawn. _Don't die yet, little wormie,_ Danielle thought. _There'll be sun to come._

Except there probably wouldn't be, because it was supposed to rain again that night. It had already been raining on and off all afternoon.

The gym had a class of elementary school girls at the moment. Danielle headed back to the lockers to change and check her phone to see if Henry had called. An unknown number had about an hour ago; Danielle figured Henry would have moved on from whatever phone booth he'd been using by now, so she shrugged and set her phone aside. For the time being, she decided as she headed into the gym, tying her hair up in a messy ponytail as she did, she could at least try and force all of this out of her mind. Try, of course, being the operative word.

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><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:<strong> Hello, Oncers, and happy Halloween! :D I must admit that the show has grieved me greatly as of late so I started writing something different from it. This will follow the show a bit but will get increasingly AU as we go. It'll be full-on AU by mid-Season Three. The main pairing will be Hook/OC. Background pairings will be Wooden Swan and possibly Jefferson/OC. (Don't worry, they're different OCs.) Please leave some constructive criticism with a review! :)

**DISCLAIMER:** I clearly do not own this. If I did, the show would definitely be different.


	2. Chapter 2

**THE HAUNTED MAN**

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><p>CHAPTER TWO<p>

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><p>Danielle didn't go home until it was unavoidable. She ate dinner at Granny's Diner, where she rolled her eyes at the waitress' idea of a dress code, and sat on the pier for a few hours reading under a streetlamp. It wasn't until ten o'clock at night that her mother finally called her.<p>

"Yes, ma'am?" Danielle asked almost sarcastically upon answering the phone.

"Where are you?" Regina demanded.

"I'm at the pier."

"Is Henry with you?"

Danielle debated. She could say that Henry was, and then wait by the bus stop until he returned. But what if he, against all possibilities, dragged his biological mother back with him? How could that be explained? "No," said Danielle. "He's not."

"So he's gone missing," Regina said, her voice sharp, annoyed, and lethal. "Did he tell you about any plans he had for today?"

"Nope," Danielle replied, because this was sort of true. He hadn't told her he planned on waking up early and going by himself, anyway. Danielle raised her eyes to the cloudy night sky and hoped the Lord forgave her for kind of lying. She wished she had a free pass around her mother—but no: _honor your mother and father_. She added, because she felt rather badly about lying, "But I'm sure he's fine, though."

"You're sure," said Regina flatly.

Danielle reddened in the misty dark, under the flickering orange streetlamp. That was another reason she detested her mother: Regina had a way of crawling under your skin and fitting herself right by your insecurities, or even where you thought you were confident, and then she just had this tone that could rip out your everything. "Yeah, I'm sure," Danielle replied. "He's not stupid."

A moment of silence from Regina's end of the line contested this. "Fine," she eventually said. "Come home, please. I'll see you soon."

"Later," Danielle answered, hanging up.

She sat there for a minute, staring out over the churning water. Sometimes she considered jumping in. But then she mechanically stood, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and started to wander back off the pier. She didn't bother putting her iPod in now; the quiet of the night was calm enough.

Danielle was halfway down the center of Main Street and fighting against a cold wind when headlights came looming out of nowhere. She quickly walked over to step up onto the sidewalk: but the car skidded to a halt. Then a blonde woman hopped out of the driver's seat and slammed the door shut.

This was strange: not only was it bizarre behavior, Danielle had never seen the woman before. In Storybrooke, everyone knew everyone. The town was tiny and the people never changed; there could be no mistaking someone for anyone else.

Then the passenger's door on the other side opened and out stepped Henry.

For a second Danielle just stared. She couldn't believe it—Henry had actually convinced his mother to drive him all the way back to Storybrooke. "Look, it's been a long night," his mother was snapping, annoyed. "And it's almost…" She looked up toward the town library, which was attached to a clock tower. The hands weren't moving—they never did, because time was stopped.

Danielle turned and strode over to the car. "Henry," she called out.

Henry and the woman both looked at her. "Hi, Danielle!" Henry fairly chirped back. "This is my mom, Emma!" He gave Danielle a significant look.

"Er—hi," said Emma awkwardly, sparing Henry a vaguely irritable glance.

"I'm Henry's sister," said Danielle, reaching out to shake Emma's hand. Emma had a strong grip. She was tall and pretty, with curly blonde hair; she also seemed rather like she had a perpetual scowl, and she looked like she was lost and vaguely afraid of what might turn up around the corner. "Welcome to Storybrooke."

"Oh, I'm not staying," said Emma, drawing back.

"Anyway, about the clock," Henry cut in. "It hasn't moved my whole life. Or Danielle's, either. Time is frozen here."

Emma glanced at Danielle and then back at Henry. "Excuse me?"

"The Evil Queen did it with a curse," Henry continued. "She sent everyone from the Enchanted Forest here."

"Hang on. The Evil Queen…sent a bunch of fairytale characters _here_…"

"Yeah," said Henry. "And now they're trapped."

Emma raised one eyebrow. She clearly thought Henry was insane. "It's true," Danielle added. Emma then turned her _you are a lunatic_ gaze on Danielle. "Hasn't moved my whole life, either."

"That just means the clock is broken," Emma said slowly.

Danielle sighed. "I know you aren't going to believe either of us," she said, "but the only two people in Storybrooke who actually physically _grow up_ are Henry and I." Emma's expression went from mildly concerned to confused and alarmed. "But it's a lot to go over in ten minutes. You could stick around for a while and see for yourself."

"Yes, _please!_" Henry exclaimed. "We need you here! The whole town needs you here!"

"But why me?" Emma demanded. "Why not _her_ mom?"

Henry brightened. "Because you're the savior!" he declared, fairly bouncing on his toes. "You're in this book, too! You're the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, and you're supposed to come and save everyone!"

Emma stared at him. Then she stared at Danielle, who nodded; and then she looked back at Henry. "So," she said, "let me just recap. I'm a savior of a town full of people who are stuck in time…who could literally up and leave whenever they felt like it."

"They can't," said Danielle and Henry at the same time. Danielle continued, "Whenever anyone tries to cross the town line—except for me and Henry—bad things happen."

Emma gave her an incredulous look. She opened her mouth to say something, probably to counter the arguments; however, before she could, the town psychiatrist decided to make an appearance with his dog.

Dr. Archie Hopper was the town psychiatrist. Henry and Danielle had figured out almost immediately after getting hold of the book that he was Jiminy Cricket—his last name was _Hopper_, for Pete's sake. Regina really wasn't very good at being sneaky with names. He had red hair that always stuck up in one way or another and always carried around a long beige umbrella. He was always in nearly the same outfit—a button-up shirt with a tie and khakis, although he liked to mix it up with the sweater-vests.

Tonight he looked extremely concerned, as usual. Danielle tended to try and skip out on meetings her mother attempted to force her into: Dr. Hopper seemed to like finding problems to solve even if there weren't any, or even if there was no possible way for him to even come close to solving the problem. It was easy for Regina to send Henry to his office and convince him there were things wrong with his mind, but Danielle was too old and bitter to trick into thinking anything.

"Henry!" he called, fairly jogging over to see them. "Danielle! What are you two doing here? Is everything all right?"

When he reached them Danielle leaned over to pet Pongo, his Dalmatian. (She wasn't sure if this was the actual Pongo from _101 Dalmatians_ or not; there was no story in the book to help her tell.) "We're fine, Archie," said Henry. He reached over to pat Pongo, too.

"Who's this?" Archie asked, glancing over at Danielle.

"Oh, this is Henry's birth mother," Danielle replied. "Uh, Emma Swan."

Emma gave her a split second of a strange look—Danielle knew her surname from all of Henry's research—but still reached out to shake the doctor's hand. "Oh," said Archie significantly, raising his eyebrows and withdrawing his hand. "I see."

"I'm really just trying to give him a ride home," Emma said. "Do you know where he lives?"

"Mifflin Street," Danielle supplied before Archie could. "Biggest house on the street." She felt a little vain for saying that even though it was true, and she added, trying to justify the house's size, "Mayor's house, or whatever."

Emma rounded on Henry. "You're the _mayor's_ kid?"

Henry suddenly found his feet very interesting. He idly kicked at the street. "Um. Maybe."

Dr. Hopper seemed to notice that Henry felt uncomfortable; and because he was Dr. Hopper, he took it upon himself to rectify the situation. He leaned over a little to ask, "Hey—where were you today, Henry? You missed your session."

Danielle worried about Dr. Hopper sometimes. She thought it was rather clear that Henry had been out of town all day, trying to track down his birth mother. Henry, though, decided to milk Archie's gullibility for all its worth. "Oh, I went on a field trip," he said, nodding as if agreeing with himself.

Archie glanced at Emma. Danielle watched the two exchange a look; it was like neither she nor Henry were actually standing there, staring at them. It was this kind of behavior that made Danielle wish she couldn't identify as a legal adult at eighteen. They were all rather pretentious idiots—except for maybe the waitress in Granny's Diner and Jefferson, the only other person in Storybrooke who knew about the curse besides Regina.

It was probably just Regina's hand in this, though, Danielle knew. Regina always acted this way around Henry and Danielle, as if they were funny and sort of cute, like nothing they said or did actually mattered. That couldn't account for Emma's look, though. "Henry," Dr. Hopper was saying seriously, bending down to be on the same eye level as the kid he was talking to, "what did I tell you about lying?"

Henry looked torn between bored and annoyed. Probably more annoyed at himself for not being a better liar, Danielle guessed, and tried not to smirk. Emma gave Danielle an appraising look and Danielle shrugged at her.

"Giving in to one's dark side never accomplishes anything," said Archie.

Emma turned toward Henry and Archie now. "Okay," she said, dragging out the 'o'. "Well, I really should be getting him home."

Dr. Hopper straightened back up. Emma was watching him skeptically; Danielle decided that, at least for the moment, she liked the woman. "Oh, sure, yeah," said Archie awkwardly. "Listen—have a good night. And, uh." Archie gave Henry what he probably hoped was a friendly punch in the arm. "You be good, Henry."

Then he turned toward Danielle. "Hope to see you soon, Danielle," he said with a polite smile. Danielle wondered if this meant he hoped she'd come into his office with a problem soon.

"Goodnight," Danielle replied, giving him a sarcastic little wave.

If he noticed the sarcasm, he didn't show it. Dr. Hopper just turned and strode off, right down the center of Main Street, Pongo trotting along after him.

Emma looked back at Henry. "So that's your shrink?"

"I'm not crazy," Henry answered flatly. "And he's _our_ shrink, not just mine."

Danielle personally thought that did not prove his statement on his sanity whatsoever, as they'd just declared to believe in the same thing. "I don't actually see him anymore, though," Danielle explained. "I kinda stopped seeing him a few years back."

Archie started whistling on his walk away from them; he was whistling so loudly that Danielle could hear him. "Okay," said Emma. "That's fine. I don't think either of you are crazy. It's just—he doesn't seem cursed to me. Maybe he's just trying to help you."

"He's the one who needs help," Henry answered. Danielle agreed with that on several levels. "Because he doesn't know!"

"That he's a fairytale character," Emma said.

"None of them do," said Henry. "They don't remember who they are."

Emma snorted. "Convenient, all right," she said, shaking her head. At the same time Henry started to walk back around the car, presumably to climb back into the passenger's seat. Emma glanced at Danielle. "Uh—you want a ride home?"

Danielle debated briefly. Catching a ride home meant getting to see whatever happened when Emma and Regina met, and not getting caught outside in the rain that was sure to come. It also meant watching Henry attempt to connect with his mother who clearly thought he was a basket case.

"Sure," Danielle decided aloud. "Thanks."

After a bit of a struggle about trying to climb in—the yellow Bug Emma drove was a two-door—Danielle was in the passenger's seat and Henry was in the back. Now, Danielle knew, there wasn't much time. She had to convince Emma that neither she nor Henry were insane.

"So where do you work?" Danielle asked.

"Oh, I'm a bail bondsperson," Emma replied. She glanced at Danielle and must have glimpsed a bemused expression, because she added, "Yeah, it's not that common of a job, I know." She gave Danielle another look before asking, "Are you in college or high school?"

Danielle wished she was in college. Then she would be halfway across the country, in whatever school accepted grades from Storybrooke High in a nonexistent town. "High school," she replied. "I'm a senior. Graduating in May."

"But none of her classmates are," Henry piped up from the backseat.

Emma looked very close to rolling her eyes. "So who do you think your shrink is?" She seemed to be talking only to Henry. Danielle wasn't sure if this was good or bad—Emma thinking of Danielle differently either meant she thought Danielle was saner or just better to listen to because she was older.

"Jiminy Cricket!"

"Oh, right, the lying thing," said Emma, nodding as she played along. "I thought I saw your nose grow a little there."

"I'm not Pinocchio."

"Right," said Emma, and then muttered, "Because that would be ridiculous." She looked back at Danielle as they pulled onto Mifflin Street. "Your classmates really won't be graduating with you?"

Danielle shook her head. "Nope. None of them ever have."

"Somehow I find that hard to believe."

"Believe it," said Danielle heavily. "I still see my best friend from kindergarten running around. Still five years old." She glanced at Emma. "You get used to it."

They pulled up in front of the house then. It was mostly obscured by the tall hedges and wrought-iron fence around it. Danielle clambered out of the passenger's seat and then moved the seat out of the way to let Henry out; Emma stepped out of her own side and closed her door.

Once Henry was out on the sidewalk with the passenger's side door shut, he gave his mother a pleading look. "Please don't take me back there," he said sadly.

"I have to," Emma replied. "I'm sure your parents are worried sick about you."

"I don't _have_ parents," Henry snapped. "Just a mom, and she's _evil_."

Henry and Emma had started up the pathway to the house. Danielle trailed along after them at a slower pace; she didn't want to get in the way when Regina came outside and found Emma with her son. Emma stopped suddenly, though, and turned toward Henry. "It's a bit extreme, isn't it?" She gave Danielle an almost pleading look herself.

"Not that extreme," was all Danielle said.

"She is," Henry insisted. Then he added, on a much more depressing note, "She doesn't love me. She only pretends to."

Danielle wasn't entirely sure if she agreed with that one; Regina, Danielle rather thought, had tricked herself into thinking she loved them. But if she really did, she wouldn't have let them grow up with other people telling them they were crazy. Sometimes Danielle wished she was one of these bizarre Storybrooke characters, left completely in the dark.

"Kid," said Emma, bending over to look straight at Henry, "I'm sure that's not true."

Two things happened at once: Danielle coughed, and the front door to the house swung open. Emma spared Danielle a split-second look before turning toward the house. "Henry?" Regina asked, jogging out of the house in her heels. They clicked on the walk as she ran over and encompassed him in a hug. "Henry, oh! Are you okay? Where have you _been_?"

Regina, Danielle noted, did put on quite a show. Danielle caught sight of the pretty sheriff from the station lingering back by the front door. He was tall and muscular, with wavy brown hair and a beard that made him look like the rugged mountain man type. Danielle was fairly certain he was sleeping with her mother. They were both adults, Danielle figured; they could do whatever they wanted with their time.

Regina straightened up, releasing Henry from the hug. "What happened?" she asked, glancing at Emma.

Henry, to Danielle's surprise, looked like he was about to explode. "I found my _real_ mom!" he burst, before turning and running straight past all the adults. He went right inside, pattering up the steps and into the house.

Well, that had gone worse than Danielle expected. Regina turned and saw Danielle. "Did you know about this?" Regina asked her.

Danielle shrugged. "Not really."

Both of them knew this meant 'yes' and Regina frowned. "We can talk about this later," Regina said. "Go inside and see your brother, please."

"Yup," said Danielle. She ambled on past the two women on the front walk; but she paused to glance back and say, "Nice meeting you, Emma."

With this last shot fired Danielle passed the sheriff and went inside.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:<strong> There's no main Regina pairing, but I'll probably just go along with whatever the show does. It'll be in the background, though, and mentioned in passing at best. Thanks for asking, I think? Haha, but really, thanks for the follows and the favorites! Please leave a review with your thoughts!

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own this.


	3. Chapter 3

**THE HAUNTED MAN**

* * *

><p>CHAPTER THREE<p>

* * *

><p>The following morning, after showering and dressing, Danielle strolled down the hall to Henry's room with her toothbrush still in her mouth. She rapped on his door. "Hey, Henry?" she asked.<p>

He didn't answer, so Danielle reached for the doorknob. "Hope you're decent," she called out as she entered his room.

She was met with the usual set-up: bed made, backpack gone, window open, scarves nearly in ruin. Henry was lucky Danielle rarely wore them at best. Danielle rolled her eyes and walked over to pull her scarves back up. She had no idea how they even managed to hold his weight.

She was wandering back to her room, attempting to untangle her scarves as she did, toothbrush still sticking out of her mouth, when Regina came whipping out of the master bedroom. "Good morning, Danielle," said Regina. She sounded particularly cool and satisfied today. Then she paused. "What on Earth—?"

"He's gone again," Danielle said, entering her room. "No clue where."

"_What_?" Regina demanded. Before Danielle could answer, Regina was already taking off, heels clacking madly against the hardwood floor. Danielle could hear Regina muttering angrily as she went. Danielle rolled her eyes again and returned to the bathroom to finish up her morning routine.

Danielle was on her way downstairs when she glanced outside and noticed that it was unusually bright today. She decided to take a mental health day before she hit the ground floor. She nodded to herself and grabbed an apple from the coffee table in the front hall on her way out the door, iPod already in her ears.

She headed out to the sidewalk and turned to the left instead of the right. A trip to the bookstore was definitely in order today, Danielle decided, taking a large bite out of the apple. Much more of a knowledgeable experience than reading anything in Mr. Withers' class, anyway.

Danielle briefly considered stopping by Granny's Diner, but she realized that as it was the only place for coffee in town, Regina would probably be stopping there at some point this morning. She decided to avoid that awkward confrontation and instead made her way back over to her favorite bench on the pier.

This morning it was already occupied. There sat Jefferson, the only other person who knew about the curse, with an open newspaper. "Hey," Danielle called. Jefferson looked up and smiled for maybe half a second before going back to his regular expression. "Why aren't you watching Grace?"

Jefferson sighed and looked back out over the water. "Every day is the same," he said. He brooded for a moment, gazing at the churning blue-green ocean; then he glanced back at Danielle, who had slid off her backpack and was making herself comfortable on the other end of the bench. "Why aren't you in school?"

Danielle shrugged. "Every day's the fuckin' same," she remarked, leaning back.

Jefferson began to meticulously fold up his newspaper. "I could imagine how difficult that must be," he said as he folded, flattening out the creases. "Watching every day pass, while nobody ages."

"How long's it been?" Danielle asked.

Jefferson let out a short, bitter laugh. "I've lost count."

They sat there for a moment in silence. Danielle glanced over at Jefferson. He was pushing the now neatly-folded newspaper into some inside pocket of his blazer. The man was always impeccably dressed, usually in some scarf or ascot of some sort with a tailored suit. Danielle didn't mind; he was easy on the eyes anyway, with tousled brown hair, bright green eyes, and usually some beard stubble.

What wasn't pretty about him was the fact that he was fairly mad. He'd been the Mad Hatter back in that other world—except he'd been in Wonderland at the time of the curse, having been forcibly separated from his beloved daughter Grace. He'd spent years in Wonderland, trying to make a magic hat for the Queen of Hearts and himself, but he could never make it work. Without the magic hat he had no way of getting home to the Enchanted Forest, where Grace lived on without him.

Jefferson was another reason Danielle despised her mother. It was disgusting, really. Regina could trick herself into believing she actually loved Danielle and Henry, but at the same time, she could separate this man from his own daughter. It was even worse because Grace had forgotten everything; she thought her name was Paige, and she lived with a new family now. Jefferson lived alone in a huge house at the end of the last Storybrooke street.

"Henry managed to drag his mom back to town," said Danielle.

Jefferson looked up. "What's her name?"

Danielle smirked at him. "Emma."

A smile spread across his face and he turned, looking back out over the water. Danielle looked too, at how the bright sky contrasted with the dark waves, at the white boats bobbing over in their docks. "How has she taken it?" Jefferson asked. Danielle noticed he was rubbing his fingers together. He always did that, like he was making invisible hats.

"Thinks Henry's absolutely insane," Danielle reported. "But I managed to have some semblance of normal conversation with her. I think that might've helped a bit."

"Is she staying in town?"

Danielle shrugged. "I'd assume so. Henry took off this morning, probably to try and convince her. Pretty persuasive with adults, that one."

"We'll make her stay," said Jefferson.

Danielle didn't want to ask him what that meant; she only hoped that Emma decided to stay in town on her own, before Jefferson did something that was actually crazy. She leaned back, resting her arm on the back of the bench, and crossed her legs at the ankles. She put her head back and closed her eyes. "What d'you think would happen if she left?" Danielle asked. "Think we could force something out of Gold?"

Jefferson snorted. "No."

"She'd better stay, then."

Gold was the man who owned the town—the original author of the curse, previously known as Rumplestiltskin. In the Enchanted Forest he'd been the Dark One, the person with all the magical power possible. He'd been a creature of sorts, not even fully human. Here he had the same sort of power: it was quiet, not as flashy as being the mayor, but it was inescapable. Everyone in Storybrooke paid rent to Mr. Gold. People were always making deals with him down at his pawn shop, the way they'd made deals with him in the Enchanted Forest. Dealing with him in Storybrooke was much shadier, though, and Danielle always wondered what on Earth these people bargained with. According to the stories in Henry's book it was usually firstborn children.

Neither Danielle nor Jefferson had ever been able to figure out if Gold knew about the curse or not. Henry didn't know either, for that matter. Gold always strolled around town with his cane, perfectly at ease. Like everyone else he used the same path every day and did the same thing every day. Either he didn't mean to do it or it was a trick for blending in.

"I'll keep an eye on the clock tower," said Jefferson.

"She'd better break this damn thing into pieces so fast that clock tower starts working again overnight," Danielle answered. If the clock tower moved, it meant that time moved; and if time moved, well, Danielle might get the chance to hang out with Eden Galloway and Rachael Trent again, and maybe they'd be able to graduate together.

"She'd better," muttered Jefferson darkly.

After what felt like a long time Danielle sat back up. She leaned over and rifled around in her bag for a moment before coming up with _Jane Eyre_. She set her cell phone beside her on the bench in case Henry called; then she cracked open her book. Jefferson just sat there at the other end of the bench, watching the water, making invisible hats, and thinking about his daughter, probably.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:<strong> So, uh, thanks for reading! Please review! :)

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own this.


	4. Chapter 4

**THE HAUNTED MAN**

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><p>CHAPTER FOUR<p>

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><p>The clock tower was moving the next morning. It chimed the hour at seven o'clock, just as Danielle was getting dressed. When she heard the bell she hopped over to her window, one pant leg on and the other off, and yanked up the blinds, afterwards shoving the window open. She stared across town at the tower.<p>

It was true—the clock was moving. It hadn't even moved just one minute. It was all the way around, and keeping time remarkably well. _She stayed,_ Danielle thought, delighted. She didn't know whether this meant that time really would start moving again, or if it had, but she decided there was no time to waste: she had to get that woman to break this curse.

She finished dressing herself and reached over for her backpack. She realized that she really did have to go to school today; besides, Danielle figured, if Eden asked to hang out again, she'd be able to say yes this time without being afraid of leaving Eden and Rachael in the dust.

Unfortunately Regina had things to say about Emma staying in town. Danielle discovered in fourth period that the newspaper had attempted a hatchet job on Emma. "Excuse me," Danielle said to the guy sitting beside her, "can I look at that?" He was holding the newspaper, evidently reading it.

"Sure," said the guy, looking confused. He handed it to Danielle.

There was a front page article about how Emma Swan, a newcomer in town, had knocked out Storybrooke's historical sign. Danielle rolled her eyes—how useless, nobody cared about that sign—and handed the newspaper back to the guy. "Read anything interesting?" the guy asked.

"Nope," said Danielle, disgruntled.

During lunch Danielle was sitting outside on the front steps, listening to her iPod, reading her book, and eating a sandwich, when her phone rang. She set everything aside and took out her earphones to answer. "I know," she said upon answering it, expecting it to be Jefferson. Nobody else ever called. "The clock's working."

"That's not it!" Henry exclaimed from the other end of the line. "Emma got arrested!"

Danielle coughed. "Wait, what?" she demanded. "What'd she do now?"

"She was gathering intel for Operation Cobra!" Henry replied. "Operation Cobra is what we decided to call our plans to break the curse! She was trying to get some files from Archie's office and got caught!"

"Are you sure that's what happened?"

"Yeah, I'm sure!"

Danielle rubbed her forehead. If Emma had truly been trying to find information about the curse, she was going about it in the completely wrong way. Plus, she'd gotten caught, on her third day in town. At this rate the savior wasn't going to be around for long—and Jefferson would resort to whatever mad genius plan he had in mind.

"Anyway, I'm going to try and get Ms. Blanchard to bail her out," Henry continued. "I just wanted to update you on what's going on."

"Thanks, Henry," said Danielle. She sighed. "Do you want me to meet you at the police station after school?"

"Yeah! You need to help, too!"

"Will do, chief," said Danielle before hanging up. She put her earphones back into her ears and resumed eating, but she didn't pick up her book. Regina was a truly ridiculous woman. Why did she have to go to all these lengths just because another woman was prettier than her? Danielle was pretty sure that Eden Galloway, for example, was prettier than her, but that didn't make her want to destroy the girl's happiness.

Maybe it was a mama bear thing now, about trying to protect Henry from the other mother. Danielle wondered what on Earth would happen if her own mother showed up with an interest in her life. It would never happen, but if she did—well, Danielle could see Regina doing the same bizarre things. Regina, Danielle decided, was truly a psycho. She was the person directors made horror movies about.

After school Danielle strolled down to the Storybrooke police station. The sheriff was the only person who was ever there, besides criminals. The only criminal ever arrested was Leroy the janitor; he was just bitter and always drunk, and therefore didn't even really care when he was arrested. In Danielle's opinion the real criminal was Regina, but she, Henry, and Jefferson were the only ones who believed that.

When Henry spouted things about the curse and Regina's evilness, they thought he was just a silly kid. When Danielle tried to explain about the same things, they thought she was just being an angsty teenager. And, well, Jefferson was just plain crazy.

Danielle met Henry and Ms. Blanchard several hundred yards out from the police station. "Hey," Danielle called. Both of them turned back around; Danielle waved. Ms. Blanchard smiled and Henry waved wildly back.

"Hi!" was Henry's blithe response.

Danielle reached the two and nodded at Ms. Blanchard. "Afternoon, Ms. Blanchard," said Danielle.

"Hello, Danielle," said Ms. Blanchard. She was tall and pretty, with a sweet face. She had black hair in a short pixie cut. Danielle had had her as her own fifth grade teacher way back when. "How've you been? I haven't seen you in a while."

"Eh," said Danielle with a shrug. "How're you?"

"Good," Ms. Blanchard replied.

"Come on!" Henry exclaimed, before either of them could continue into more formalities. He grabbed Danielle's hand and started to tug her in the direction of the glass doors that led into the police station. "We have to get my mom out of there!"

Danielle was forcefully dragged along until she finally just ripped her hand out of Henry's grasp. "Hang on a second," she said, when Henry stopped halfway down the hall and gave her an annoyed look. Ms. Blanchard was following right behind them. Danielle glanced back. "Seriously, thank you for this."

Ms. Blanchard turned a delicate shade of pink. "Oh, it's all right, really," she said. She and Danielle walked after Henry, who was looking more annoyed by the second. There was one long corridor in the station that led to the back, where the two jail cells were. Their feet slapped against the white tiled floor as they walked.

Henry turned into the back room first. "Hey!"

"Henry," said the sheriff in surprise. Danielle and Ms. Blanchard turned the corner then. Emma was standing in front of the wall for her mug shot. "Henry, what are you doing here?"

Danielle waved at Emma, who gave her a polite smile. Ms. Blanchard clasped her hands awkwardly and sort of followed Henry, looking unsure of herself. "His mother told him what happened," Ms. Blanchard explained.

"Of _course_ she did," said Emma, giving the sheriff a significant look. She took a step toward Henry. "Look, Henry. I don't know what she said—"

"You're a _genius_," Henry interrupted. Emma raised her eyebrows. "I know what you were up to." When Emma looked increasingly bemused, Henry continued, "You were gathering intel. For Operation Cobra."

The sheriff frowned. "I'm sorry, I'm a bit lost."

Emma smiled a little. The sheriff glanced at her as if hoping she might explain it to him. "It's need to know, Sheriff," said Henry; the sheriff looked back down at him now. "And all you need to know is that Ms. Blanchard's gonna bail her out."

"What you also need to know," Danielle said, finally stepping forward, "is that Regina probably set her up for this."

The sheriff sighed and pushed his hand through his wavy hair. Danielle guessed Emma had already tried telling him this. "There is no evidence for that, Danielle," said the sheriff. "If you have any physical evidence, please let me know."

Then he turned toward Ms. Blanchard. "Are you sure about this?"

"Why would you bail me out?" Emma asked.

Ms. Blanchard looked uncomfortable at all the attention. "I, uh, trust you," she said, flustered.

Emma glanced down at Henry, who beamed back up at her. Then she looked toward Danielle, who offered her a crooked half-smile; and Emma turned back to the sheriff, holding up her hands. "Well," she said, "if you could un-cuff me, I have something to do."

Ms. Blanchard paid the bail while Henry stood nearby and watched, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Emma looked rather uncomfortable, so Danielle took a step forward to stand by her. "Hey, listen," said Danielle. "I'm really sorry about my mother's behavior."

Emma half shrugged and half smiled, as if to say, _what can you do?_

"And I know you won't like to hear this," Danielle continued, "but what Henry tells you is right. Everyone here—except Henry and I—were someone else somewhere else first. Their having forgotten is not convenient at all; it just makes Henry and I seem like we're crazy. Part of the reason Regina wants you gone is because she wants to be Henry's only mother. I'm sure you know that.

"The other part is that you really are born to save this town." Emma opened her mouth to protest. Danielle held up her hand. "I have no clue what that entails, but it means something. You're somebody here. That's what's got Regina so scared. She's afraid her entire empire is going to collapse beneath her."

"You really hate her," Emma realized aloud, looking at Danielle as if she'd never quite seen her before.

Danielle looked toward the nearby window. Outside on the street there were people strolling along the sidewalk in the afternoon sunshine, enjoying the few sunny days they had left. "Yeah," said Danielle. "I do."

Emma didn't say anything for a moment. Henry piped up to say something to Ms. Blanchard and the sheriff, who were still talking across the room. "Everything may seem world-changing now," Emma slowly said, "but trust me when I tell you that it's not."

"Trust _me_ when I tell you that it is," Danielle answered. "It's not just teenage angst. Henry's not just a silly, imaginative kid. There's even another person here who knows and believes in the curse—and he's not crazy."

"Wait, who?"

"His name is Jefferson," said Danielle. "I'm friends with him. He lives on the furthest street in Storybrooke. He's as much of an adult as you can get—even has a kid. His part in this curse is remembering what everyone else forgot."

Emma looked thoughtful now, her eyebrows drawing down. "I'd like to meet him," Emma finally said. "This Jefferson person. Who was he in fairytale land, or wherever?"

"You're going to think I'm crazy again," Danielle replied wryly.

"Why?"

"He was the Mad Hatter."

Emma snorted. Danielle figured she should have seen that reaction coming a mile away. "Sorry, it's just all really convenient," Emma said. "I mean, nobody can remember who they are, so it's only you and Henry and this Jefferson person. And, like you said, not many people are, uh, disposed to believe you. Plus this Jefferson guy is crazy."

Danielle rolled her eyes. "Stop calling it convenient," she said, annoyed. "It's not. It's the most inconvenient thing in the world. I'm stuck here with Henry, watching nobody age, because of this damn thing. Day before yesterday I had to turn down hanging out with people I might actually like from my class because I know they're not going to graduate. I used to try—but then I would be in fifth grade while my best friend was still in kindergarten and it just didn't fucking work."

Emma watched her. Danielle couldn't tell if Emma was suspicious or just intent on listening. "You can ask Henry about it, too," Danielle added. "He used to be really good friends with this one kid Jackson. I used to be friends with Jackson, too, because Jackson was five when I was five and five when Henry was five."

"You can't ask me to really believe that," said Emma, shaking her head. "That's—that's crazy. That just doesn't _happen_."

"I'm not asking you to believe it, I'm _begging_ you," Danielle said. "Please, for the love of God. You don't even have to really believe it—just act like you do. For as long as it takes."

They stared at each other for a moment. Before Emma could give Danielle a proper response, Ms. Blanchard and Henry walked back across the room. Henry smiled at Emma. "You're free!" he said happily. "What were you gonna do?"

Emma kind of glanced at Danielle, but turned back toward Henry. "I think I have an idea for getting back at Regina," she said. She straightened up and smiled somewhat awkwardly at Ms. Blanchard, who returned the look. "Seriously—thank you."

"It's really all right," said Ms. Blanchard, shifting her weight.

Danielle looked around at all of them, and the sheriff watching a few feet away. "Well, I'm going to the gym," Danielle announced. "Good luck with whatever you're going to do, Emma. Just find me and ask if you want to meet Jefferson."

"See you later!" said Henry.

"Have a good afternoon, Danielle," said Ms. Blanchard.

Emma just nodded at Danielle; then Danielle turned and walked out of the police station. She headed to the gym, as usual, on her own.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:<strong> Hello! Thank ya'll so much for the response to the last chapter! :D You make me happy! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well, and have a happy Thanksgiving if you're in a country that celebrates it! :) I hope you have a good Thursday anyway even if you're not, haha.

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _Once Upon a Time_.


	5. Chapter 5

**THE HAUNTED MAN**

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><p>CHAPTER FIVE<p>

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><p>A week later, nothing had progressed.<p>

Oh, there had been some troubles—Henry had been caught up in a whirlwind of drama between Emma and Regina. He'd gotten himself stuck in an old mining shaft with Dr. Hopper. A certain comatose patient at the hospital had woken up; he was Prince Charming, Henry had reported, and once he'd convinced Ms. Blanchard to read to him, he'd gone missing and crazy things had happened. Emma had snagged a job as deputy to Sheriff Graham.

Danielle had spent her time the way she usually did: reading, listening to music, working out, and now, wondering what the hell was taking Emma Swan so long. If the woman didn't get a move on, Jefferson would put some bizarre plan of his into action, and then Emma would really think they were all crazy.

She knew that nobody could actually break the curse except for Emma. But Danielle figured there was no harm in trying to find out more about the curse herself. The more information they had the easier it would be to eventually snap the damn thing in half.

So Danielle set out to discover one Wednesday morning the following week. She pretended to get up and get dressed for school while Henry took off to Granny's Diner, where he had taken to meeting Emma for breakfast. Danielle ate a quick and somewhat awkward breakfast with Regina, who only looked increasingly pissed off, before heading out to go to school.

Once Danielle was around the block she hopped the nearest fence and doubled back. She crossed through several peoples' yards and then walked around the back of a house to reach her own backyard. From there she climbed up the partly scarf trail and partly tree to reenter her bedroom. She dropped her backpack onto her bed, walked over, and sat down at her desk.

Henry had lent her his fairytale book. He'd told her that he'd ripped out the last pages and Emma had burned them—so Regina wouldn't be able to get a hold of them and figure out that Emma was the savior. Danielle flipped through the book now, looking for any important details she'd missed.

She had compiled a list of characters mentioned and backstories explained. She included the secondary characters in the stories, too; for example she listed Snow White and Prince Charming, but she also listed Charming's stepfather King George and his ex-fiancée Princess Abigail, and Abigail's father King Midas. After paging through Jefferson's story, Danielle realized that the secondary characters were stuck in Storybrooke, too: not just the main ones.

This meant that Abigail was somewhere around, along with her father. King George was much more worthy of worry; he seemed, if the story was true, to be a vindictive jerk. Danielle didn't doubt that the now woken up David Nolan would encounter some troubles from George soon enough.

However, even having a list of all the possible villains in Storybrooke was no help in breaking the curse. Danielle stowed the notebook away in which she'd written down all these characters' names; then she crammed the fairytale book into her backpack. She made sure she had anything else she needed before climbing back out of her window—just in case Regina was running a little late this morning.

The next and really only stop on Danielle's list was Mr. Gold's. She'd never been in his pawn shop before; in fact, she'd never even spoken to the man. She decided that today was the day that she figured out what the hell he'd intended with this curse of his. She could only hope that he actually remembered creating the curse.

Danielle took the back way: she strode along the row of houses just behind Main Street. She had no intention of letting anyone besides Mr. Gold know she'd skipped school today. She never knew who might report back to Regina. Probably everyone except Emma, Danielle thought wryly. Everyone else was basically under Regina's control, after all.

It was a crisp fall day today. The air was chilly and Danielle could almost see white puffs of her breath. The lawns she passed all looked a bit crunchy today—not exactly frosted over yet, but getting there. And when Danielle glanced toward the sky it was a solid gray.

Mr. Gold's Pawn Shop was at the very end of Main Street. It was a relatively small building, with a brown roof and blue siding. Danielle first slipped between two large suburban cookie cutter houses, complete with the picket fences, to reach the back of Main Street. Then she hurried up the side alley behind one of the two houses and directly beside Mr. Gold's store.

Danielle rushed around to the front of the store, hoping nobody recognized her, and let herself in. Once inside the store she let out a short breath of relief. She was glad the place was actually open: standing out there in front of it, awkwardly hanging onto the doorknob, would have been hard to explain to anyone like Dr. Hopper passing by.

The inside of the store was cluttered with the most random of items. Danielle spotted bad wooden dolls, an old fading globe, a couple of swords, and a variety of hand-carved boxes. It was nothing like any pawn shop Danielle had ever imagined.

There were three glass counters, full of odds and ends: and the main one, across from the door, was manned by Mr. Gold himself. "Good morning," said Mr. Gold. He was an average height, with mousy brown hair and a weird smirk of a smile. He had one hand resting on the counter in front of him. "What can I do for you?"

Danielle debated. She put her hands on the straps of her backpack. Then she decided _why the hell not_ and asked, "Why did you create the curse?"

Mr. Gold's crooked grin widened. "I believe that is my own business, Miss Mills," he said. "Is there anything else I can do for you, before you get back to school?"

Danielle frowned at him. She was pretty sure that was a dig, though she couldn't figure out quite how. Maybe it had to do with his tone. "Do you want this thing broken or not?" asked Danielle. "Why would you create it if you _didn't_ want it broken? What's in it for you?"

Mr. Gold was still smiling that infuriating smile. He clasped his hands together on the counter in front of him. "Like I said, Miss Mills, that is my business. And speaking of business—if you do not have any real questions regarding the merchandise, you'd best be on your way."

Danielle glared at him. He smiled benignly back. "Fine," she growled. "But I can't wait until the day this all comes right back to you."

"You may be waiting a while, Miss Mills," said Mr. Gold, as Danielle swept out the door.

Once outside she checked her cell phone. Grudgingly she admitted to herself that it probably would be best for her to go on to school. She'd only missed homeroom so far. With the walk there she'd miss maybe the first twenty minutes of first period.

Then she glanced back over her shoulder at the closed door. It was possible he had something lying around inside that could lead to some sort of answer. Danielle briefly considered trying to sneak into the back of his store herself; then she walked around the corner of the building and called Jefferson instead.

"Does she believe?" asked Jefferson upon picking up.

"No," grumbled Danielle. Jefferson let out a noisy disgruntled breath. "But I need your help. I'm going to break into Gold's store."

Jefferson laughed. Danielle could picture his face—bitter and sarcastic. He suddenly stopped. "And why would you want to do that?"

"For answers, obviously. Do you want to help me or not?"

"Depends."

Danielle huffed in annoyance. "On what?"

"What will I be doing?"

"I don't know," said Danielle. "Distracting him or something. Keeping him in the front of the store."

There was silence for a moment on the other end of the line. Danielle loped over to peek around the corner of the store—she spotted Regina exiting Granny's, a cup of coffee in hand, and she quickly backtracked. "I'll help," said Jefferson, at long last. "But if your plan doesn't work, we're going to go with mine."

Danielle winced. _Dear Lord, please make my plan work._ "Fine."

"Be there in three minutes."

They hung up at the same time. Danielle put her phone away again and then retreated back, wandering along the alley to see the back of the store. There was a nondescript door back there—but when Danielle tested it, it was locked. She quickly crossed back around to the alleyway. There was a small window on the side of the building. She doubted she could fit through it.

Danielle stood back and thought about the roof, but there was no way to reach it safely, and no guarantee that there would be an entrance into the store there. Danielle frowned and prayed for a minute that they would be able to figure this out. Unlike everyone else in Storybrooke—minus Jefferson and Henry—God actually listened. This was one of the reasons Danielle still went to church.

She considered the window again. If she took her backpack off and squirmed quite a bit, maybe. Unfortunately Danielle really did not want to be found stuck half-in and half-out of Mr. Gold's building.

There was nothing to it, then. Danielle reached up and pulled a bobby pin out of her hair. Now that one stupid piece was sticking up, but only Jefferson was going to see her, so Danielle thought it would be fine. She walked back around the building to the locked door. Then she snapped her bobby pin in half, stuck the pieces into the door, and started to jiggle them around.

Danielle was still doing this and hoping that Mr. Gold wasn't just waiting for her on the other side when Jefferson appeared. He looked somehow both brisk and irritated. "What should I do?" Jefferson asked upon reaching her. He had come from behind the buildings—the same path Danielle had taken.

"Ask for something insane," Danielle suggested. "Insist that you need a perfect kind of globe for something. Or start breaking his things."

Jefferson studied her for a moment. He smiled, then the smile dropped away. "You want to put me in harm's way."

"We're both in harm's way," Danielle answered. A second later the doorknob clicked; she beamed at the door and pulled her broken bobby pin out. Then she put the evidence into her pocket. "Well?" Danielle said to Jefferson, who was watching her idly. "Go do something. Just make sure Gold stays in the front of the store."

"Fine," said Jefferson. "My blood is on your hands." Then he laughed. "Although it's not like I can die anyway."

With that he jauntily walked around the corner of the building and off down the alley. This left Danielle with the disturbing thought that Jefferson had attempted suicide. She frowned and tried to shake the idea out of her head. It was easiest to direct her anxiety about it into anger toward Regina—it was, after all, her fault that Jefferson was stuck here.

Danielle waited until she heard the jingle of the bell in the front door of Gold's shop before twisting the doorknob and letting herself in.

She was in a back storage room. It was quite empty. Danielle gently pulled the door closed behind herself; then she crept toward the open doorway into a well-lighted room. She was nearing the doorway when she heard voices—automatically she flattened herself against the wall, her breath catching in her throat. Then she recognized Jefferson's voice and relaxed.

Danielle prayed for a split second before hurrying into the next room over. It was another storage area: though this one was full of items. There were all sorts of odd things lying around. There was an entire rack of clothes hanging back here for no apparent reason. They were women's clothes, too, so they couldn't have been for Gold.

She glanced toward the front—she could hear Jefferson spinning some story about India—and then hurried her search. There was nothing she could find that seemed of any importance. It all just seemed to be clutter.

Danielle was about to give up and creep back outside when she spotted an item in a cabinet. This item was of significance: she recognized it from Rumplestiltskin's story in Henry's book. It was the chipped cup that Belle, Rumplestiltskin's housekeeper and semi-girlfriend, had accidentally broken.

_Of course!_ Danielle thought. She wanted to smack herself. How could she have missed that golden opportunity? Belle was alive: the storybook even said so. If Danielle could find Belle and bring her back to Mr. Gold, he might be a much better ally—

"What do you mean?" Jefferson asked very loudly. Danielle caught sight of one other item in the cabinet, an old yellowing shawl, before she darted back into the empty storage room. "Well, why don't you stock them? And you call yourself a pawn shop owner."

"Mr. Jefferson," said Mr. Gold, his voice also growing louder, "you do realize the definition of pawn shop."

Danielle escaped out the back door and pushed it carefully shut behind her. Then she stood there for a minute, trying to wrap her mind around the discovery. If Mr. Gold was indeed still caught up on Belle, Danielle's finding her would not only endear her to the man, and convince him to help her; it would also release Gold's wrath upon Regina. And that was quite an ideal thought.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:<strong> Hello! :D Thank you guys so much for the response to the last chapter! :) I hope you enjoyed this chapter too! I know personally my finals are coming up next week, so if you're in school and your finals are coming up too, good luck! :3 There will still be an update next week!

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _Once Upon a Time_.


	6. Chapter 6

**THE HAUNTED MAN**

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><p>CHAPTER SIX<p>

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><p>Two days later—two long, annoying days of discovering nothing in Regina's office and trying to keep Jefferson at bay—Danielle heard of the first casualty.<p>

It was a dark, cold night. Regina had gone out; Henry ordered pizza with Regina's credit card and Danielle broke into their mother's office. "What're you doing?" Henry asked as he wandered over. He was still holding the landline in one hand.

"Trying to find something," Danielle answered as she pushed open the door. She'd gotten rather good at this unlocking doors with bobby pins thing. "If she comes back before I'm finished here, stall her."

Henry shrugged. "Sure." He turned and positioned himself between the office and the front door, still holding the landline. He was quite happy to be part of anything rebellious. Danielle rather thought this newer facet of her brother was partly Emma's fault—not that the woman did anything wrong, but that Henry's most rebellious act thus far had resulted in good.

Danielle, of course, was no saintly role model. She shrugged to herself as she crossed the entirely too large room to reach Regina's desk. Once there she shuffled through every drawer except one; that one was locked, and when Danielle tried to pick it, the bobby pin pieces melted.

_Okay then,_ Danielle thought in surprise. She left the drips of brown bobby pin on the floor for her mother to clean up when she came home.

Danielle moved on to go through the bookshelves. The only things that Danielle could find were untouched copies of classic literature. She opened the glass bookcases and felt along the books, hoping vaguely that she might stumble upon some secret passage, but came up with nothing.

"Someone's here!" Henry shouted from the front hall.

Danielle sighed and closed the glass doors. She fairly jogged back across the room and yanked the door to Regina's office shut behind her. She walked back into the front hall to find Henry beaming at a pizza man. Danielle let out an involuntary breath of relief and helped carry the pizza inside.

Together they sat at the marble-topped island in the kitchen. "Did you find anything?" Henry asked around a bite of supreme pizza.

"Nope," said Danielle. "Where d'you think Mom would hide people?"

"I don't know," Henry replied. "Her vault."

Danielle sighed. Both of them knew that this left them at a standstill. Neither of them knew where her vault was. Danielle briefly considered trying to trail Regina one day when she left, but she doubted she could get away with it for long. She changed the conversation to Henry's recent science test.

They were only a few minutes into bashing a truly terrible science teacher they had both had when the front door swung open. Danielle and Henry both quieted down. Regina strode into the kitchen with a strange look on her face. She dropped her purse on the island, near the open box of pizza, and said, "Both of you go to bed."

"Why?" asked Henry.

"We're still eating, Mom," said Danielle, gesturing at the pizza.

"I don't _care_," Regina retorted. Danielle wondered what the hell had happened. Regina didn't seem angry, per se, but she didn't seem joyous, either. Had she won some fight with Emma or lost it?

Henry glared at her. "And you wonder why I'm always with Emma." Before Regina could respond, he picked up his plate, turned, and walked purposefully back up the stairs toward his room. Danielle blinked after him. She glanced at Regina, a little afraid of what she might find.

Regina just looked tired now. "Long day of work?" Danielle asked almost a little too sarcastically.

"Yes, Danielle," Regina said. "It was a very long day."

With this she moved mechanically over to start washing the dishes. Danielle quickly navigated out of her way and followed Henry's lead—taking her plate with her to her room. They weren't supposed to have food upstairs, but Danielle figured Regina wouldn't crack down on them this time.

It was only later, when Danielle descended the stairs with her used plate, that she discovered the truth. "What happened?" Danielle asked flatly when she reached the kitchen. Regina was just standing there, leaning against the island, swirling around a glass of red wine.

"Sheriff Graham is dead," said Regina.

Danielle fumbled with the plate and dropped it. Luckily she had been about to set it down anyway, and it made a loud crashing sound, though it did not break. "Why?" Danielle demanded. "What happened?" She felt a rather bizarre, sarcastic smile cross her face. "Did he try to leave town?"

Regina sipped her wine. "You know I don't believe in any of that fantasy story," she said with a flick of her hair. Danielle rolled her eyes. "I don't know what happened. I just received a call myself."

"Right," said Danielle. "I'm sure you had nothing to do with it." She eyed Regina for a moment. She did seem sort of broken up—as much as she ever could, probably.

"You know, Danielle," said Regina suddenly, turning toward her, "it really hurts when you say things like that. I've only ever tried to help you. I _love_ both you and Henry, and neither of you seem to care!"

"That's rich," said Danielle. She wasn't in the mood to fight about this. She wandered back out of the kitchen. "Tell me that when I'm not the only one graduating." Mentally, as she strode back up to her room, she added, _Or when Jefferson gets Grace back, or Ms. Blanchard gets Charming back, or even Gold gets Belle back_.

Danielle hesitated outside her room. She'd intended to lock herself in there and blast some music while probably browsing the Internet. She glanced back downstairs and thought about how Regina might twist up the story when she told Henry. Danielle squared her shoulders and headed for Henry's room.

Henry was sitting on his bed with a Gameboy. "Hey," Danielle said, pausing in the doorway.

"I'm almost done with this level!" Henry declared brightly. "It's the highest I've ever gotten!"

"That's cool," said Danielle, meaning it. Henry's games were surprisingly difficult. "But, um, I have to tell you something. Before Mom does."

That made Henry look up. He paused his game. "What?"

"Sheriff Graham died."

"Sheriff—" Henry burst in surprise. He stared at Danielle in astonishment. The Gameboy fell out of his hands. "Sheriff Graham is _dead_!?"

"Sorry," said Danielle, wincing.

Henry dropped his head into his hands. Danielle shifted awkwardly in the doorway. She glanced back to make sure Regina hadn't begun approaching before stepping into Henry's room. "I can't believe he's _dead_," said Henry, voice muffled.

"I know," said Danielle wryly. She couldn't quite wrap her head around it, either. Now that she had a real moment to think about it, it was quite shocking—she'd never see the ruggedly handsome sheriff in his patrol car or wandering down the street or even bringing Henry home again.

"But I _liked_ him," Henry said, finally looking up. His lower lip was trembling. Danielle felt a flash of panic—she was really quite terrible at comforting people. "And I bet _she_ killed him, too!"

"Hey, hey," said Danielle, walking over to sit on the bed beside Henry. She patted his head awkwardly. "It's okay. We'll be fine."

Henry was still quite distraught. "Emma might not be!" he exclaimed. "She's trying to break the curse! And Sheriff Graham wasn't even doing anything wrong!" Henry rubbed his hand over his face. "He started to remember today, Dani! That's why he's dead!"

"He _what_?" Danielle demanded.

"He came to me and asked about my book," said Henry miserably. He sniffed. "I told him about the huntsman. He even believed me! Then he ran off, he seemed really—" He stopped there, and his shoulders started to shake.

Danielle was in full panic mode now. "Um," she said, putting her arm around Henry's bony shoulders, "At least we know he's in a better place."

That was what Danielle thought about while Henry cried into her shoulder. Downstairs Regina was probably drinking her wine, alone, thinking about all this triumphant death. Somewhere Emma was probably freaking out about her new passed on position of Sheriff. Jefferson was probably watching Grace eat dinner in a house with a different family.

Danielle even thought about Mr. Gold. Maybe he was standing in the back room of his shop, looking at that chipped cup, thinking about Belle.

"We'll break the curse," Danielle said to Henry, as he subsided to sniffles. "I promise." And they would, if it was the last fucking thing they did.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:<strong> Sorry I'm a bit late! This week has been crazy, and I've developed a rather terrible addiction to _Vampire Diaries_, haha. Elijah is bae. I hope all of you had a great week, and have a great upcoming one! :) Please review with your thoughts!

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _Once Upon a Time_.


	7. Chapter 7

**THE HAUNTED MAN**

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><p>CHAPTER SEVEN<p>

* * *

><p>Henry was not quite so keen on carrying forth this plan of "break the curse or die" the following morning. Reason and logic seemed to have returned to him. Danielle, however, felt that she proudly lacked both of those things, and shirked her school day duties by heading straight for the newspaper office instead.<p>

She didn't even bother hiding it—she strode down the sidewalk in the direction opposite school, head held high. It was a bright fall day and there was a little chill in the air. Danielle was quite happy about it. She was even happy to sit on the doorstep outside the newspaper office for a relaxing hour until it opened. She waved at Dr. Hopper when he passed by, and he gave her a funny look, but he kept walking. A moment later he turned back. "Danielle?" Dr. Hopper asked.

"Yes?" Danielle answered innocently.

"Shouldn't you be in school?"

Danielle studied him good-naturedly for a moment. Then she turned her head, faced the sky, and closed her eyes. "You can ask Regina about that."

Fortunately Dr. Hopper did, for once, seem to understand this cue; for Danielle heard him turn and walk away with Pongo. Pongo's tags jingled as they left. Danielle opened her eyes and glanced down the sidewalk. Dr. Hopper was pretty far away already.

A few minutes later Sidney Glass appeared, a newspaper under one arm and a keyring in the other. "Oh!" said Glass when he caught sight of Danielle on the doorstep. He smiled nervously at her. "What—er—what are you doing here, Miss Mills?"

Danielle debated briefly. "I'm here for my mother," she said after a moment. She figured she'd regret the lying later, but for now, it was the only way she knew she could get any information. "She was talking to me about you."

Glass fumbled with his keys. Danielle arched an eyebrow at him. He was reddening already. "She's training you, then, huh?" he mostly muttered to himself. He unlocked the door to the newspaper office and pushed it open. "Come in, then."

Danielle hopped up and followed Glass inside. Glass turned on the lights as he went; he walked over to open his office and toss his keys inside. Danielle heard them smack onto his desk. She looked around the messy office for a minute, at the few sparsely decorated cubicles and the fake plants.

"What does Regina want?" Glass asked. He folded his arms and met Danielle's eye now.

Danielle was pleasantly surprised; she was kind of glad the man had a backbone. The more people who wanted to stand up to Regina the better. "She needs you to dig up all the information you can on the late sheriff."

"Why?" asked Glass. He looked like he didn't want the answer.

Danielle shrugged. "Heck if I know. She just asked me to do this." Glimpsing a moment of what looked vaguely like sympathy on Glass's face, Danielle added, "She might delegate the tasks, but she never really explains."

"It's true," Glass admitted. He eyed Danielle suspiciously. "You won't tell her, will you?"

Danielle shook her head.

"She's ruined me," said Glass. He looked sincerely distraught: he brought up one of his hands to scratch his head, his expression pained. "Nobody's here because nobody works for me anymore. My employees all quit!"

"I'm sorry about that," Danielle said, after a moment. She frowned—why would Regina want to ruin this guy? Hadn't he run a hatchet job on Emma Swan only a week ago? "Regina does cut ties rather quickly."

"I'm not even sure why!" Glass exclaimed. "I couldn't open legally locked files on Emma Swan! How can I be blamed for that!?"

_It seems that you do know why,_ Danielle thought, though she kept this to herself. "You can't," she said, suddenly deciding to switch tactics. She glanced around, as if afraid of someone seeing her, and then said in a slightly lower voice, "I don't like Regina either. I'm just trying to figure out what she did to Graham."

Glass narrowed his eyes at her. "You're her daughter."

"Not biologically," said Danielle shortly.

"And you think she did something to Graham?" Danielle nodded. Glass's eyes widened. "Do you think—do you think she _killed_ him?"

Danielle shrugged. Glass still looked as astonished as if she had said that she believed Regina had killed Graham. He rubbed his hand over his face and moved back to lean against a nearby desk with one hand behind him. "I can't believe this," he muttered. Then he glanced up. "Why would you dislike her?"

"She's cruel to everyone, Glass," said Danielle. "Not just people she wants something from."

Glass studied her for a moment. Danielle looked back, her hands tucked into the pockets of her blue plaid jacket. Then Glass nodded. "I believe you," he said. "And I'll start looking into Graham—but under one condition."

"What condition?" asked Danielle cautiously. She was still having issues with the last condition someone had made her agree to: in fact, she should probably trail Emma Swan around today, to make sure Jefferson didn't try something dumb.

"Make sure Regina doesn't know," said Glass. He straightened up and walked over, sticking his hand out toward Danielle.

Danielle shrugged. "Sure." She shook his hand. "If you find anything, tell me right away."

"Will do," said Glass. He nodded at Danielle, who saluted him before turning and walking back out of the newspaper office. Once outside she hesitated on the doorstep, wondering where she could go next. She wanted to try and find out where Regina had squirreled Belle away, but she was quite at a loss on what to do with that.

Danielle spotted Emma walking along the sidewalk with her head down and her hands in the pockets of her jacket. Danielle crossed the street at a jog to catch up with her. "Hey," Danielle called as she neared the blonde woman.

Emma glanced back. "Oh, hey," she said. She frowned. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Screw that business," said Danielle as she finally caught up with Emma. She slowed her pace to match Emma's. "I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions. And, er, warn you about someone."

"I already know Regina is out to get me," said Emma. "And I already told the coroner what happened with Graham."

Danielle stopped in surprise. Emma stopped a couple of steps later and turned around, raising her eyebrows. "There's a coroner?" asked Danielle. She'd never known Regina to adequately stock Storybrooke with people. After all, there wasn't a city council, or a construction company, or a librarian. Or firefighters.

"Yeah," said Emma. Danielle didn't like her tone—it implied Danielle was the stupid one here for not knowing.

"Where's his office?" asked Danielle.

"The hospital," Emma answered, waving her hand distractedly in the direction of the building. She put one hand on her hip and tilted her head a little. "You're the daughter of the mayor. How do you not know this?"

Danielle tried very hard not to roll her eyes. "I'm not getting into this with you again," she said tartly. "Anyway, I was going to warn you about Jefferson. Don't drink anything strange and make all your own food. And if something happens, please just shoot him in the knee, not to kill."

Emma's eyebrows were rising to new heights. She folded her arms. "I thought you said you were friends with this Jefferson guy?"

"I am," Danielle replied. "But you're not, because you refuse to believe in the curse." Danielle hesitated before adding, "Even though a man is dead now because of it."

"Graham did not die because of the curse," said Emma with a disbelieving little laugh. "He had a heart attack or something." She shook her head at Danielle. "And I don't have to do this with you. Go to school." She started to turn away.

"Are you going to be sheriff?" Danielle asked loudly, before Emma could get more than a couple of steps away.

Emma paused. "I don't know," she said. Then she continued on her way.

Danielle huffed in annoyance. She couldn't believe this woman. Graham had _died_ because he started to remember. Henry was even a witness to this. Then Danielle's heart sank and she returned to the world of logic and reason—because if nobody listened to Henry and dismissed him as a silly kid, there was no way they'd pay attention, even to something like this.

She scowled to herself and turned around. Danielle started to vaguely walk in the direction of the hospital. She was, of course, slightly less enthusiastic about it now, but she wasn't about to go to school. It infuriated her that Eden Galloway and Rachael Trent were probably worrying about a math test while Danielle was looking into murder.

It was even more infuriating because Henry was involved in this. The poor kid really deserved nothing more than a chance to worry about something as trivial as a math test.

Partway to the hospital Danielle heard a bark. She expected it to be Pongo and Dr. Hopper, returned to carry her away to school. Instead when she turned she caught sight of a loose dog chasing a butterfly across the street. Danielle stopped and looked around for the dog's owner—there was no one anywhere nearby, as she was near the less populated area of town.

Danielle spotted a collar on the dog's neck. She prayed vaguely to the Lord that it wouldn't have rabies—though she had been lying enough lately that He probably didn't want to listen to her anyway—before striding out into the road. "Hey, buddy," Danielle said to the dog, as it watched the butterfly fly higher into the sky and out of its clutches. "What's your name, huh?"

The dog turned toward her and wagged its tail. Then the dog dropped down into a playful position, tail still wagging. Danielle smiled at it despite herself and tried to approach, reaching out with one hand. The dog barked and jumped away.

Danielle didn't have any food on her to offer the dog. She glanced up the street and mentally shrugged—there was no Graham in a patrol car to cruise around town anymore, so it was probably pointless to even look both ways. Still, she didn't want to leave the dog in the middle of the road, so she suddenly grabbed for its collar.

The dog barked again but Danielle did grab its collar. Then she quickly led it over to the nearest sidewalk and bent down to check its tags. "You're a cutie, huh?" Danielle said to the dog, scratching around its ears with her free hand. The tags seemed to say that the dog belonged to the Traymore family.

Danielle had no idea who they were, here or in the Enchanted Forest. "Where do you live, huh?" Danielle asked the dog. She glanced around with some agitation—the dog was taking her out of her way.

Instead of letting it roam free, though, Danielle started to lead it back the way from which she'd come. The town was bustling near Granny's; now the lights were on in the newspaper office, and people were coming in and out of the diner. Marco the carpenter was fixing the same sign as he did every morning.

Danielle had just reached a bar when she spotted a couple of tall and gangly-looking girls wandering around. "Lulu!" one of them called. "Lulu, where are you?" the other one added.

_Thank God,_ Danielle thought, and quickly did so. She straightened up as much as she could with her hand on Lulu's collar and shouted, "Lulu's over here!"

The two girls looked over immediately. Then they rushed across the street, fairly shoving each other over in their eagerness to reach their lost dog. "Aw, Lulu!" said one of the girls, dropping to her knees and rubbing the dog.

The other girl eyed Danielle suspiciously. Danielle half-smiled at her, as she wasn't sure what else to do. "Where did you find her?"

"Down the street that way," said Danielle, pointing. "Have a good day."

Before anyone could protest Danielle turned and fairly jogged back down the sidewalk. She pretended not to hear the girl calling after her and quickly crossed the street to the other side. She'd lost some time she could have used to look for Belle or ask the coroner questions, but she figured she'd rather have the dog safe.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:<strong> I'm late! I meant to update on Christmas - sorry! :P I'm going to upload two chapters tonight in apology. I hope everyone had a great New Year's! :) Happy 2015! Thanks for reading!

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _Once Upon a Time_.


	8. Chapter 8

**THE HAUNTED MAN**

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><p>CHAPTER EIGHT<p>

* * *

><p>Danielle was starting to understand Jefferson. Her own madness seemed to be constantly leveling up—as nothing happened, and she remained at the same stand-still, she began to feel fairly insane. The only ways she could try and stay sane were by distracting herself with school or gymnastics. She couldn't read without daydreaming midsentence and music wasn't holding her attention.<p>

The information she had weaseled out of the coroner—with the vague and ominous threat of turning Regina on him—only told Danielle what she already knew. Regina had killed Sheriff Graham. The coroner had thought Graham perfectly healthy when he died; he had decided on a heart attack. But after Danielle ordered an autopsy with her mother's name standing behind her, the coroner discovered that Graham was missing his heart.

His heart was literally, physically gone. That was certainly enough to kill someone. It was hard to have blood pumped through your veins if you didn't have a heart to do it. And Danielle remembered certain stories from Henry's book—particularly the ones where Regina took someone's heart and crushed it.

Even thinking about it now made Danielle angry. It was a Sunday afternoon, and she'd already dragged Henry to church with her that morning. She didn't want to do her homework and she didn't want to see Regina's face. This left her pacing around town aimlessly.

Over the past week Danielle had met with Jefferson multiple times and attempted—only half-heartedly now that Emma wasn't so high on Danielle's likable people list—to persuade him not to execute some crazy plan. She went back to see Sidney Glass, only to find that he couldn't find anything Danielle didn't already know about Graham. He'd been sleeping with her mother and he had no real history outside Storybrooke.

Danielle, having been focused on her own schemes, had largely ignored Emma's and Henry's. Emma had become sheriff of Storybrooke after some weird war between Regina and Mr. Gold. Soon after this Danielle had realized that the newspaper office was not opened for two days in a row. When confronted about the whereabouts of Sidney Glass, Regina pretended not to know anything.

Danielle also heard that Emma had rescued two homeless kids under her new sheriff title. Danielle rather thought that if Emma was any good at all she should focus on saving everyone's lives, not just the lives of kids. Graham was _dead_, and Emma still wasn't interested in breaking the curse. She was interested enough in breaking Regina—a little after the weird sheriff war Emma and Sidney Glass had tried to expose some scheme of Regina's—but Danielle couldn't convince her that breaking the curse _would_ break Regina.

It was all so maddening and twisted that Danielle was seriously considering going to live with Jefferson. At least he wouldn't lie to her face. He was also just bitter and snarky enough for her taste.

Danielle had to admit to herself, though, that she probably deserved this painful waiting. She'd never honored her mother, after all. That was against one of the Ten Commandments. Add in her lying to get answers and she'd already broken two commandments.

She sighed to herself as she wandered along the sidewalk further into town. She fingered her cell phone, in the pocket of her jacket, and briefly considered calling Jefferson. She was about ready to help him with whatever harebrained plot he'd come up with. Instead, though, she turned and headed into Granny's Diner.

"Hey, Danielle," said Ruby Lucas brightly as Danielle entered. Danielle waved at her vaguely and turned to look for an empty booth. It was around dinnertime, which made it slightly more difficult. Danielle was about to head for an empty stool at the counter when she noticed someone she had never seen before.

It was a tall man in a black leather jacket, with wavy dark hair and some beard stubble. He was pretty cute, all chiseled features and bright eyes. Danielle shrugged to herself and walked over to slide into his booth across from him.

"Hello," said the man, raising one eyebrow at Danielle.

"Hey," Danielle replied. She glanced over and saw Ruby hurrying over. Danielle glanced toward the man, who was watching her with some amusement and interest, and then back toward Ruby.

"I didn't know you knew him," said Ruby, smiling especially toward the guy.

"I don't," said Danielle. "Could I have a Coke, please? And a cheeseburger with fries?"

Ruby looked distracted, but she nodded. She smiled again at the guy before turning and walking back off, wending her way through occupied tables. Danielle turned back toward the man. They studied each other for a second. "So," said Danielle. "What brings you to this shitty little town?"

The guy let out a startled laugh. "I'm a writer," he said. "I needed some inspiration."

Danielle narrowed her eyes at him. She drummed her fingers on the cool metal table. Nobody ever came to town unless they were brought there or knew about it in the first place. This was the only conclusion Danielle had come to—for she remembered how Regina had reacted to unwanted visitors a long time ago, when she was nine or ten. Emma, however, had been able to waltz right in, with Henry's help.

A second later, before Danielle could decide what to ask him, Ruby returned with her Coke. "Ah, thanks," said Danielle, taking the proffered drink. Ruby smiled again at the guy, turned, and walked away. Danielle rolled her eyes at Ruby's behavior and turned back toward the dude. "You know the mayor's going to try and kick you out."

"Why?" asked the guy, though he sounded slightly guarded.

"She hates people," said Danielle. "She likes to kill them."

The guy stared at her. "She what?"

Danielle studied him again, this time trying to gauge his reaction. He did seem genuinely surprised. She couldn't tell if it was because she'd just said it or the fact that the mayor was, by all definition, a serial killer. "You heard me," said Danielle, taking a sip of her Coke. "The problem is nobody can get her on trial. Because, you know, she's the mayor."

"Who are _you_?" the guy asked Danielle, after a second.

They both stared at each other. They were both trying to figure out if they could trust the other. "Danielle Mills," Danielle finally said. "I was adopted by the mayor."

"You're her daughter, and you're accusing her of murder?"

"I'm not—" Danielle started to snap. Then she tried to calm herself down and added in a cooler tone, "I'm not her daughter." She tilted her head a little. "What books have you written?"

He blinked at her. She realized with a smirk that she was probably coming off as insane as Jefferson. All she had to do now was start randomly smiling and then suddenly turning serious again. "I'm not published yet," he said cautiously. "I've been trying to get into the business for years."

"Too bad," said Danielle. She reached for her Coke again. When she put it down, she asked, "Are you going to tell me your name?"

"I prefer to remain a mystery," said the guy with a smirk.

Danielle wanted to douse him in her drink. Just then Ruby reappeared with Danielle's dinner and set it down. "Thanks, Ruby," said Danielle, as she reached for the ketchup bottle on the table.

"No problem, Danielle," said Ruby, though she looked at the guy as she said it. Then she smiled at him again and wandered off.

Danielle started to eat. The guy still looked as though he wasn't sure whether to be amused or alarmed. "Do many people come through here?" he asked.

"No," said Danielle. "And nobody leaves."

"Is that right?" the dude asked noncommittally.

"Yeah," Danielle answered. She ate for a few minutes, trying to decide the best way to go about this. Then she set down her cheeseburger and said, "This town is cursed. The mayor's the Evil Queen. She was trying to get back at Snow White for being prettier than her. You'd best get out of town before she decides to go after you, too. She killed a guy about a week ago. Another guy who was helping the opposition disappeared, too."

At this she'd half-expected the guy to quickly excuse himself and get the hell out. Instead, a slow smile spread across his face. He extended his hand across the table. "August Booth," he said.

Danielle shook his hand and ate a French fry.

"I happen to know about the curse, too," said August, after a moment. Danielle almost choked on her food. "And not just from your brother Henry."

"What?" Danielle demanded, when her airway was cleared. "How!?"

"Let's just say I was sent away from the Enchanted Forest a while ago," said August. "Before the curse was set."

That explained why he wasn't in Henry's book. Danielle was overcome with a rush of manic glee. "That's great," she said, genuinely meaning it. "I've been trying to get Emma Swan—you know, the sheriff, she's supposed to break the curse—to believe, but she just thinks I'm crazy. She thinks Henry's a silly kid with an imagination. And the one other guy in town who knows about it is actually crazy, so he's no help."

"Who else knows about it?" asked August interestedly.

"Jefferson," Danielle replied. "The Mad Hatter."

"Well, that explains the madness," said August. He rubbed his chin. Danielle picked up her cheeseburger again and tried to make her teeth stop chattering—they did that whenever she was overly happy, which didn't happen often. She couldn't believe she'd finally found another person who believed. It was positively exhilarating. "How have you tried to make Emma believe in the curse?"

Danielle shrugged. "Told her about it. I also tried convincing her I was totally sane, but I'm not sure it worked." Danielle reached for her drink. "Anyway, she's been treating me like an angsty teenager, so…"

"She thinks you're taking everything out of proportion," August supplied. He nodded, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I understand. And, of course, the last resort is the Mad Hatter."

"Exactly," said Danielle, who wanted to shout for joy.

"Have you asked Gold about the curse?" asked August.

Danielle nodded. "He didn't tell me anything, of course," she said. "Then Jefferson distracted him while I broke into the back of his store, but I couldn't find anything useful. Except for two items he seems to treasure—a chipped cup and an old shawl."

August didn't seem surprised. "Belle and Baelfire."

"Baelfire?" asked Danielle, immediately straightening up. "Who's Baelfire? I didn't know about him." August glanced around; he didn't seem keen on releasing this information. "Come on, man," Danielle persisted. "I've been stuck here for eighteen years, I deserve better information."

August smiled crookedly and wryly at her. "That's true." He leaned a little over the table to add in a lower voice: "Baelfire is his son. He went through a portal and ended up here years ago. He has to be the reason Rumplestiltskin created the curse—in order to leave the Enchanted Forest and get here to find him."

"Wouldn't Gold want the curse broken, then?" said Danielle, perplexed.

"I would think so," August agreed. He glanced around again, then said, "And I'm fairly certain that Baelfire is Henry's father."

Danielle leaned back and rubbed her hand over her face. "You're kidding," she said flatly. August raised his hands as if in surrender and shook his head; he leaned back, too. "This is way too coincidental."

"Fairytales," August reminded Danielle.

Danielle snorted. "Right, I almost forgot myself," she said. "It's not like we live in the modern version of fairytales." Fairytales were always cliché and coincidental. Danielle hoped fervently never to be a part of a cliché. "So," Danielle said, as she continued eating a few minutes later, "what's your plan?"

August shrugged lopsidedly. "I could try and convince Gold I'm his son. If I got him to lead me to the dagger, maybe I could use it to control him."

Danielle raised her eyebrows. It sounded like a good plan at first, but what if the dagger didn't work here? After all, there was no magic in this land. She voiced this concern, then added, "Besides, if I'm right and the dagger doesn't work here, you'll have Gold against you."

August grunted. Danielle wasn't sure what this meant. "I guess you're right," he admitted. "But do you have any plan at all?"

"No," said Danielle. "Except for finding Belle and bringing her back to Gold."

"Then he might be our ally," August finished. "Might being the operative word."

"Well, I'd rather save people than trick them into believing their long-lost kid is back," Danielle said. "That seems like the sort of thing Regina would try to do." Regina certainly separated families enough.

August frowned. Danielle finished her dinner and then glanced over toward Ruby, waiting for her to bring the check. "I can't think of any other way to convince Emma that the curse is real," said August. "That's the most important thing."

"She's extremely pigheaded," said Danielle, as Ruby reached their table. "Could I have the check, please?"

"Separate?" asked Ruby almost hopefully.

"Yeah," August and Danielle said at once.

Ruby smiled and took August's mostly-clean plate with her as she left. August had already been finished eating when Danielle arrived. "I'd say we could trick someone into doing magic in front of her," said August, "but there is no magic here."

Danielle frowned. There was hardly anything they could do. "I don't know," she finally said. "Let's think about it, okay? Then we can all meet up—Jefferson included."

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:<strong> Here's the second chapter! :)

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _Once Upon a Time_.


	9. Chapter 9

**THE HAUNTED MAN**

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><p>CHAPTER NINE<p>

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><p>After the Miner's Day celebration it all went to hell.<p>

For one thing, Ms. Blanchard was arrested for murder. Danielle already knew she couldn't have done it because she was Snow White. Snow White was well-known for her ludicrous kindness only fictional characters could possess. There was no way on Earth Ms. Blanchard could have harmed anyone.

For another thing, Danielle suspected that it truly was murder. She suspected Regina had decided to screw Snow White's life up even more. Therefore Regina had picked Kathryn Nolan to kill, and implicate Ms. Blanchard in doing so. Kathryn Nolan was married to David Nolan, who was Prince Charming, and the guy Ms. Blanchard was in love with. As the press put it—and Danielle didn't know what press, because Sidney Glass had been missing for some time now—Ms. Blanchard had to have killed Kathryn out of jealousy.

And then there was August, who was so antsy that Danielle discovered he had gone with his own plan of sneaking around to find the dagger. She didn't discover this until after the fact. As August reported sullenly to her, she'd been right: the dagger didn't work without magic, and neither did the Dark One. August was honestly lucky that he was still alive.

Jefferson, too, ran out of patience, for he decided to go with his own insane plan. As part of this plan he actually kidnapped Emma and tried to force her to both make a magic hat and believe in the curse. As it turned out he'd kidnapped Ms. Blanchard as well, who had apparently been on the run from the law. Jefferson had disappeared for a few days and Emma had approached Danielle to tell her in no uncertain terms that her friend Jefferson was a lunatic. Jefferson only appeared later to meet Danielle at the bench on the pier and inform her—while nursing a hideously black-and-blue bruise on his temple—that his plan had not worked.

Nobody was listening to Danielle and they were all getting hurt for it. The day after Jefferson slunk over to tell Danielle that his plan hadn't actually worked, she decided that she was beyond finished with this. Nobody would say what they meant. Everyone was dancing around the real issue. And _nobody would listen to her!_

Danielle didn't bother with the pretense of getting ready for school. She got dressed in her room and pulled on a black sweatshirt before heading downstairs. Henry's door was open at the end of the hall but Danielle wasn't about to stop by and let him know what she was doing—he'd probably want to go with her.

"Danielle," said Regina, as Danielle whipped around the banister and marched toward the front door. "What on Earth are you doing? Where's your backpack?"

"I'm not going to school," Danielle answered tartly as she reached the front door.

"What?" asked Regina in surprise.

Danielle gave her a look. Regina just looked back innocently. "I'm sick of this," Danielle said coldly. "You're all dumbasses and it saddens me that I have to identify as an adult. You killed Sheriff Graham. You killed Sidney Glass. You killed Kathryn Nolan. And with luck, Emma Swan will kill _you_, too."

With that said Danielle turned and exited the house. She slammed the door behind herself and started down the walk. "Danielle!" Regina shouted, opening the door and calling after her. "You come back here right now!"

"Fine," Danielle yelled back at her. "Maybe you won't die when the curse breaks. But good luck when Jefferson gets Grace back, or when Gold gets Belle back!"

"Dan_ielle_!"

Danielle ignored her and pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt. She put her hands into the front pocket and turned out of the walk. Then she started along the sidewalk toward town.

It only took a few minutes for what she had just said to her mother to sink in. Danielle felt increasingly guilty with every step she took. She didn't want Regina _dead_, per se—she didn't want anyone dead. Danielle crossed herself and prayed to the Lord that, okay, Regina wouldn't die. She didn't want that on her conscience, along with everything else.

Still, Danielle kept her path straight and true. She passed the turnoff that led to Henry's school and spotted Jefferson lurking behind a hedge. She rolled her eyes and continued onward. When she passed Granny's she almost ran into August, who was just exiting. "Hey," said August. Danielle nodded at him and kept walking. "Where are you going?" he called after her.

"Gold," Danielle called back. That was sure to keep August from tagging along—he'd been avoiding Gold like the plague since the dagger incident. And indeed, when Danielle chanced a look back, August was crossing the street to go somewhere else.

Danielle reached the pawn shop in what felt like record time. Once there she yanked open the door and stepped inside. Then she fairly slammed the door shut behind her. "Miss Mills," said Mr. Gold, with that infuriating smirk of a smile. He was standing behind the main counter again. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"It's no pleasure of mine, Gold," said Danielle frostily. She reached up to push her hood down. "I know you want the curse broken. You need to find Baelfire. So why the hell won't you tell me how to do it?"

"Did you send Mr. Booth?" asked Gold, comprehension dawning on his face.

"No," Danielle snapped. "He did that stunt on his own."

Gold nodded slowly. He studied Danielle, probably trying to determine what he ought to say to her. "Spit it out," Danielle said irritably. "Keeping it from me isn't going to accomplish anything."

"You don't love your mother," he said. He said it rather like a question, but at the same time as though he already knew the answer.

"No," Danielle repeated. "I tried." It was too easy, though, to remember Jefferson watching Grace or making invisible hats with his hands. Or think about how Ms. Blanchard's real husband was currently married to another woman. Or Graham's missing heart, or Sidney Glass's disappearance.

For a second they both just stared at each other. Danielle raised her eyebrows at him. She could not think of a single reason why he shouldn't tell her how to break the curse. "Find Miss Swan for me," Gold said, after that painstakingly long moment. "Bring her here."

Danielle nodded at him. She turned around and walked back outside. Then she pulled the door shut behind her. Once that was done she began to walk in the direction of the sheriff's station—but her phone rang in her pocket when she was halfway there. "What?" Danielle asked when she answered.

"Regina asked for me," said Jefferson on the other end of the line. "I'm going over there."

"Don't get yourself killed," said Danielle. "She's probably pissed right now."

"I'll try," said Jefferson. He paused, then said, "I know where Belle is."

Danielle stopped a few yards away from the entrance to the police station. "You _what_!?" she demanded. "Where is she?"

"Under the hospital," said Jefferson. "Goodbye."

He hung up. Danielle pulled her phone away from her ear and stared at it. Then a slow smile spread across her face. She took two running steps over to the entrance to the station and then up to the door. She reached for the doorknob—and it was locked.

Danielle pounded on the door. "Emma Swan!" she shouted at it. She waited, annoyed, before knocking erratically again. When there was no answer for a full five minutes Danielle swore under her breath, turned, and marched back down the street.

She spotted Ms. Blanchard on the sidewalk. "Ms. Blanchard?" asked Danielle.

Ms. Blanchard turned and smiled. "Hi, Danielle," she said quite warmly. Danielle raised her eyebrows. "Oh," Ms. Blanchard said. "You didn't hear?"

"No," said Danielle slowly.

"Kathryn Nolan was found," said Ms. Blanchard cheerfully. "I've been released."

Danielle stared at her for a second. She remembered the list of grievances she had given Regina this morning and felt even worse. _Oh, well._ "That's good," Danielle finally managed. She kind of smiled at Ms. Blanchard. "Er—have you seen Emma?"

Ms. Blanchard's expression darkened slightly. "Yes," she said. "She's been living with me. She almost left town with Henry last night."

"She _what_?" Danielle fairly yelped.

"I know," said Ms. Blanchard. She shook her head. "She might be meeting with Archie. I think she said she was going to."

"Thanks," said Danielle. She turned and sprinted across the road without looking either way first. She then ran all the way to Dr. Hopper's office. Once there she swung open the door and rushed inside.

Dr. Hopper was alone in his office. When Danielle burst in he looked up and smiled. "Hello, Danielle," he said. Then he noticed her expression and frowned. "Are you all right?"

"No," Danielle answered. "Where's Emma Swan?"

Dr. Hopper adjusted his glasses uncomfortably. "I don't know," he admitted. "I spoke with her yesterday, and she seemed quite interested in having a custody battle with Regina over Henry."

"Yeah, and then she tried to skip town last night," Danielle said. She reached up to rub her temples. "She had a very busy day yesterday. Thanks anyway."

She turned and headed out of the office. Dr. Hopper called a farewell after her but Danielle was already halfway out the door.

Once out on the sidewalk she stopped. She had no leads now as to where the hell Emma Swan was. Danielle decided she had to call Henry. She pulled out her phone and waited for him to pick up. "What?" asked Henry upon answering. "Where are you? Mom's really mad."

Danielle tugged on the end of her sweatshirt guiltily. "I'm trying to find Emma."

"I think she went off with August," said Henry.

Danielle put one hand on her hip and raised her eyes to the cloudy sky overhead. She was so sick of communication problems that she was about ready to punch whoever walked by next in the face. "Well, then," Danielle surmised, "I'll just have to wait."

"Okay," said Henry cautiously. "What's going on?"

"I'm trying to break the curse," Danielle answered. "Have a good day at school."

"I want to help!" Henry protested, but Danielle was already hanging up. She put her phone back into her pocket and then looked around. She considered calling August or Jefferson, but it had barely been five minutes since she'd spoken to either of them.

There was nothing to it then. Danielle turned and started toward the hospital.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:<strong> Here's the next chapter! :) I hope anyone who's reading enjoyed it!

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _Once Upon a Time_.


	10. Chapter 10

**THE HAUNTED MAN**

* * *

><p>CHAPTER TEN<p>

* * *

><p>An hour and a half later Danielle was stuck out on the street again, pacing up and down the sidewalk. The hospital was surprisingly adept at keeping people out of what they shouldn't be poking into. No matter how Danielle fought or tried to talk her way into it, nobody would let her anywhere near the rooms under the hospital.<p>

Danielle was in the midst of praying to the Lord that this would just _end_ when her phone rang. She quickly crossed herself again and pulled out her phone. "What?" she demanded.

"I tried," said August on the other end of the line. "She won't believe me."

Danielle could feel panic starting to rise up in her. August sounded like he was in pain. "What's happening? Where is she?"

"I told her the truth and she still wouldn't believe me," said August. He sighed. "I'm Pinocchio, Danielle, and I'm turning back to wood."

"You—you—" Danielle stammered.

"I wasn't selfless, brave, and true," August said miserably. "And now I've failed. Find Henry. You two have to make it work."

Danielle thought about Jefferson and almost laughed at the irony. She probably would have if it hadn't been so damn sad. "What are you going to do?" Danielle asked. "And seriously, where is Emma?"

"I don't know where she is," said August. "She took off when we got back." He sighed heavily. "I'm going to spend my remaining time with my father. Good luck."

"Thank you," said Danielle. To her surprise she could feel a pinch behind her eyes.

"No, thank you," August replied wryly. Then he hung up. Danielle lowered her phone and hung up, too. She stared at the device in her hand for a moment. If August died, Danielle was never going to forgive Emma Swan, whether she broke the curse or not.

Running on that thought Danielle called Jefferson to check that he was still alive. The phone rang four painstaking times. Then Jefferson finally answered. "Jefferson."

"What did she want?" asked Danielle.

"I made a deal," said Jefferson.

Danielle's heart sank. "You didn't," she said. She walked over and sat down on the curb, pulling her knees up and propping her elbow against her knee. She rubbed her temples with that hand. "Jefferson, what did you _do_?"

"I found an apple for her," said Jefferson. "She promised me Grace."

"You know she's not going to follow through," Danielle said. She closed her eyes briefly. "Whatever you've done for her, she's not going to pay you back. You should already know that."

"Have you released Belle?"

"No," said Danielle grumpily. "I haven't been able to get to her."

"Good," said Jefferson. "She's my leverage. If Regina doesn't follow through, I'm putting all of Gold's wrath on her."

Danielle opened her mouth, then closed it. She was tempted to hurl her phone at the ground. "You have to tell me about these things," Danielle snapped. "What if I had released Belle, huh? Then you'd have no leverage."

"You didn't, and I do," said Jefferson calmly.

"I hope you get what you want, Jefferson," said Danielle sourly, before hanging up the phone. She shoved it back into her pocket with a great deal of annoyance. Then she rested her head in her hands. She had no idea what to do next—Emma was still missing, Jefferson seemed to have switched sides in his own interest, August was dying, and Belle was still locked away.

Footsteps pattered on the sidewalk nearby. "Danielle!" called Henry. Danielle looked up and blinked at him in surprise. He was wearing his backpack and his school uniform, but he clearly wasn't in school. "I just saw August! Did you know!?"

"That he's Pinocchio, and he's dying?" said Danielle. "I do now."

Henry skidded to a halt nearby Danielle. "We have to make Emma believe! She wants to leave town!"

"And how do we do that, Henry?" asked Danielle. The pure rage that had powered her this morning had melted away, leaving genuine despair behind. People had _died_ for this—were dying for it right now—and Emma Swan did not care. Danielle's dislike of the woman was only increasing with every passing second.

Henry looked quite distraught. "I don't know!" he answered. "But we have to do _something_!"

"We can't," said Danielle. "Sorry."

Henry stared at her in astonishment for a moment. Then he walked over and sat down on the curb beside her. Both of them looked across the street for a moment, at the empty newspaper office. "We can wait at Ms. Blanchard's," Henry suggested, after a moment. "For Emma to come back, I mean."

Danielle released a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I guess we could." She and Henry stood up at once. Together they headed for the apartment building.

* * *

><p>Emma came home hours later. By that time Danielle had quite given up. She considered calling August again, but she was afraid he wouldn't pick up. She didn't want to confirm that fear. Another fear she didn't want to confirm was that Jefferson had truly switched sides in hope of reuniting with his daughter.<p>

Henry was just as antsy as Danielle. He kept pacing. He also continuously dug out his fairytale book and flipped it open, only to shut it again moments later. When Emma finally appeared at the bottom of the nearest flight of steps, both Danielle and Henry leapt to their feet from where they had seated themselves by the door. "Emma!" Henry exclaimed happily.

"Hey, kid," said Emma. She glanced toward Danielle and eyed her suspiciously. "Hey, Danielle."

"August is dying," Danielle said.

Emma blinked at her. "I saw him this morning," she said slowly. "Is he in the hospital or something?"

Danielle's frustration was starting to claw its way through her insides. "No," she said, through gritted teeth. "He's with his father. He's in the middle of turning back to wood."

"It's true!" Henry piped up. "I went and saw him!"

Emma sighed. She navigated past Henry and Danielle to reach the door to she and Ms. Blanchard's apartment. She unlocked the door and swung it open. "Come on in," said Emma somewhat sarcastically, gesturing widely to the inside of the apartment.

Henry entered. Danielle followed him inside. The apartment was cute—painted brick and old wood. It looked vintage. But Danielle wasn't interested in that now. The moment Emma closed the door to the apartment again she whirled around to face her. "I'm serious. August is in the middle of _dying_. Graham's already dead. Sidney Glass probably is too."

"Graham didn't die because of the curse," said Emma, in a disbelieving and resigned kind of tone. She shrugged off her jacket and slung it onto a chair at the nearby dining table. Then she walked over to set down a Tupperware container with some pastry in it on the counter. "You can't keep believing that."

"I even talked to the coroner!" Danielle exclaimed. "He did an autopsy! He died because Regina _crushed_ his heart! He literally had no heart!"

Emma paused and turned toward her. "That's insane."

Danielle threw her hands in the air and walked over to sit down on the steps to the second floor. Once there she leaned back, propping her elbows up against the stair behind her, and watched Emma disdainfully. _And this was the chick who got picked for saving the town,_ Danielle thought.

"Are you okay?" asked Henry. "You sound kind of funny."

Emma paused and turned toward Henry. She seemed to be bracing herself for something. "Okay. See—um—yesterday, when I tried to take you away, you were right. I can't take you out of Storybrooke."

Then she paused. She looked genuinely pained. Danielle raised her eyebrows. "But I can't stay either," Emma finished.

"What?" asked Henry.

"I have to go," said Emma.

"Go?" asked Henry in astonishment. "Go? You mean leave Storybrooke?"

To Danielle's surprise Emma looked like she was about to cry. Danielle was both somewhat alarmed by this and vaguely placated—so the woman did have real feelings, and didn't just let people die on the wayside.

"Yeah," said Emma. "I spoke to Regina. We made a deal. I'm still going to be able to see you, just—not every day."

"No!" Henry protested, his voice rising. "No! You can't trust her!"

"I have to," Emma replied, her own voice starting to rise. "It's my only choice. It's what's best for you, Henry. Every time I fight her, someone else gets hurt."

Danielle opened her mouth to protest, wanting to say that it wasn't Emma's fault people were getting hurt—but she already figured she was intruding enough just watching them. She wasn't about to join the conversation. Emma clearly already thought very little of her. "No, no, _no!_" Henry exclaimed. "You're just scared! This happens to all heroes, it's just the low moment before you fight back!"

Emma bent down to be at Henry's level, setting her hands on his shoulders. "Henry," she said, voice wobbly and pleading. "This isn't a story. This is reality, and things have to change." She drew in a deep breath. "You can't skip school. You can't run away." She hesitated again before adding, "And you can't believe in curses."

Danielle couldn't handle it anymore. She didn't know if it was the way Emma was talking to Henry as if he was insane or just what she was saying, but it was absolutely infuriating. "You want to know reality?" Danielle fairly shouted at the woman. "The curse is fucking reality!"

"Dan_ielle_," said Emma, straightening up and turning toward her, agitation and disbelief warring on her face.

"No, you listen to me!" Danielle continued. "What Henry, Jefferson, and I believe, and what August believed, and what Graham believed—_that_ is reality! The only reason you don't know is because you're letting Regina win!"

"That's right!" Henry added, nodding.

Emma rounded on Danielle. "And you need to be a better role model for him," said Emma, talking like Henry wasn't there. "I don't care if you skip school or do whatever you want. But don't encourage him to do the same."

Danielle let out a bitter laugh of disbelief and annoyance. "You know what?" she said, jumping to her feet. "Do whatever you want, Swan. I don't care anymore. You can leave Henry and an entire town to rot here and die. Go on. Live your life. Come back in a year or two and see what you've really done."

With this said Danielle strode over to the door and yanked it open. "Wait," said Henry. Danielle turned back around, eyebrows raised. Henry glanced at her in the doorway, then back at Emma. "Our mom wants you _dead_," Henry said to Emma. "You're the only one who can stop her!"

"Henry," said Emma, in the same semi-pleading _you're insane_ voice. "Stop her from what? All she's ever done is fight for you!" She spared a glance toward Danielle, still halfway out the door. "It just—got out of hand. I'm sorry."

Henry stared at her for a second. He turned back toward Danielle, who shook her head at him. Then he turned around and flung his arms around Emma. Emma hugged him back for a moment, sniffing.

"Hang on," said Henry suddenly. He released Emma and walked over to the kitchen counter where she'd set down the Tupperware container. "Where did you get that?"

"Regina gave it to me," said Emma, turning to watch him.

_Wow,_ Danielle thought, closing the door. Emma glanced at her. _We've got one smart cookie trying to save the town._ Why would you ever accept an edible peace offering from an enemy of any kind? Danielle always would have suspected poison.

Henry opened the Tupperware container and smelled the pastry. "Apple!"

"So?" said Emma.

"So it's probably poisoned," said Danielle.

"She's right, you can't eat that," Henry said.

Emma managed to give them both exasperated looks. "What?"

Henry looked as frustrated as Danielle felt now. "Don't you see? The deal—it was all a trick, to try and get you to eat that! To get rid of the savior!"

"Henry, come on," said Emma. "Why would she do that when I just told her I was gonna go?"

"Because as long as you're alive, you're a threat to the curse!"

Danielle almost couldn't take Emma's expression. The woman still thought her son was insane, and she'd already encountered true insanity in Jefferson. The comparison between Henry and Jefferson almost made Danielle laugh aloud. "Henry," said Emma, "you've got to stop thinking like this."

"No, _you've_ got to stop," Danielle barked. "Stop treating him like he's crazy."

Emma gave her a look that clearly said she thought he was. "It's the truth!" Henry fairly yelped. "And your leaving isn't going to change that!"

Emma studied him for a second. Then she reached for the pastry. "I'll prove it to you."

"No!" Henry shouted. He managed to snatch the pastry out of her hands and darted around her.

"Henry," Emma protested. "What are you doing?"

"Henry," said Danielle in a warning voice.

Henry stopped a few feet away from Emma. He looked at her, then toward Danielle. "I'm sorry it had to come to this," he said. He looked toward Emma. "You may not believe in the curse…or in me. But I believe in _you_."

"Henry, don't you dare!" Danielle shouted, but Henry was already taking a huge bite out of the pastry.

Danielle was across the room in a split second. She grabbed the pastry away from him and pushed it into Emma's hands. "Henry, are you okay?" asked Danielle. "How do you feel?"

"See?" said Emma. "He's fine. You want to have some ice cream with that? Then we can go back to talking about—"

That was when Henry collapsed. Danielle managed to catch him as he fell. Emma flung the pastry onto the kitchen counter and stared in astonishment. "Henry?" she asked in alarm and panic. "_Henry?_"

Danielle let out an incredibly bitter laugh. "He told you," she said, turning to give Emma a poisonous look. "He told you."

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE:<strong> Thank you guys so so much for your support! :D I apologize for taking so long to update; I just had recruitment with my sorority, and it was exhausting, but it was totally amazing! :) I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! I have to admit, I had fun writing my feelings toward Emma, heh heh...she's not my favorite person. Let's just say that.

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _Once Upon a Time_.


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